


Battle for London in the Air Background & Information Sets

by The London-in-the-Air Archival Society (sakuuya)



Series: The London-in-the-Air Archival Society [1]
Category: Battle for London in the Air (Roleplay)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 13:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 28,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18718333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakuuya/pseuds/The%20London-in-the-Air%20Archival%20Society
Summary: Rescued information set descriptions and images from background and information sets for the Polyvore battle group Battle for London in the Air. Primarily not my work, uploaded here unedited for archival purposes.





	1. Foreward

On April 5, 2018, the website Polyvore.com was shuttered without warning. Polyvore's main purpose was as a fashion discovery and creativity site, but it also contained a strong community who used the site for roleplay and "OC battle groups," which were sort of competitive, story-based roleplays. When Polyvore went down, it allowed users to download their own content, but old roleplays and battle groups, especially ones that included players who left the site before it went dark (and thus are unlikely to download their content or reconnect with other Polyvore users) are largely lost.

However, I'm fortunate enough to have a partial offline copy of one of the oldest OC battle groups, The Battle for London-in-the-Air, which was created and run by Polyvore user @decoder13, aka<a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13">Decoder13</a>. This series is intended as an archival preservation of that battle group, and thus, most of the content here was not written by me. In each chapter, I'll credit the original writer/artist by their Polyvore username and, if possible, their AO3 account name.

This "story" contains all the background sets setting up the group, as well as any later information sets that were not strongly tied to a particular round. They are presented in chronological order by publish date. Later stories in this series collect each round of the game.

As I said above, my copy of this game is only partial. I have most of the set descriptions where players wrote full stories, but few, if any, of ones that were answered in summary form. Nor do I have all the visual sets that accompany the descriptions I've saved. If you were part of LITA and have an AO3 account, please comment on this fic, and I'll add you to the co-authors list. And if you have content that I don't, I'll happily add it to this series if you're willing to share it.


	2. New Steampunk Battle Group! / @decoder13.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

This is, as the title suggests, a steampunk-based battle group. Anyone can join, but some background knowledge of steampunk as a genre and style is recommended. THIS IS NOT AN RP, though interactions between characters are encouraged and, for some contests, required. All contests will require and be partially judged based on story writing.

The premise behind this battle group is that all the characters live in an alternate version of the year 1893. If you're at all familiar with the steampunk genre, you'll be able to guess a lot of the tech elements of this world: airships, steam cars, automatons/robots, cyborgs, giant industrial machines, steam power, hydraulics, clockwork, and, of course, gears EVERYWHERE. The style, manners, and culture are inspired by that of the Victorian era.

The main setting is the sky city of London-in-the-Air, founded directly above the old London, which has become too smog-ridden and toxic to live in. The city is made up of several large platforms, each held up by half-mile-tall towers. The platforms are connected by a system of bridges, steps, and lifts.

All is not well here. All the factories are still on the ground in the otherwise abandoned city, often referred to as the "low town". Factory workers commute from the sky city to their jobs in the contaminated low town. Many people considered too poor, weak, or otherwise undesirable were left behind in the abandoned areas of the low town when everyone else was evacuated to the sky, and they’re still stuck down there and are forbidden from leaving the area or seeking help from factory workers. Up on the sky city, crime, poverty, political corruption, unethical science, racism, sexism, imperialism and other nasty -isms are at play.

A rebellion is about to explode within London-in-the-Air. Members of this battle group will make sets for original characters who are members of the resistance against the corrupt city government. There are 12 teams with 4 spots each, though several are already full. Characters on each team must be in a field or category listed in the team title.

The following are the 4 remaining possible teams your OC can be on:  
*Engineers, Inventors, and Researchers (1 spot)  
*Students, Teachers, and Scholars (2 spots)  
*Explorers, Wanderers, and Adventurers (1 spot)  
*Crackpots, Gadgeteers, and Mad Scientists (2 spots)

To reserve a character and a faceclaim, fill out this quick form in the comments:

Name You Want to Be Called:  
Pledge to Join:  
OC Name:  
OC Age (16 or older; teenaged characters may be barred from some in-story opportunities due to age):  
1st Choice Team:  
2nd Choice Team:  
Faceclaim:  
Tags: Two points for each tag, up to 15!


	3. Why Is There a Rebellion? / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

So, as promised, I'm going to make a series of sets about the world of London-in-the-Air and about steampunk in general. To start, as people are working on character creation, here's a list of the reasons why a rebel group formed in the city. And yes, many of these were inspired by the backstories group members have written so far, because they're awesome ;) Enjoy, and group members, please comment to let me know what other sets and information might be helpful for you guys as we get the group started!

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

London-in-the-Air is one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the Western world. Unfortunately, it is also a hotbed of hypocrisy and oppression. The resistance has been quietly building up over the past few years, and an all-out revolution has not yet begun. Not all resistance members are angry about the same things, and some people are in the resistance for selfish reasons and ulterior motives. The revolution will start in the first contest for this group.

The following are a few major problems with London-in-the-Air and its government that motivate many members of the resistance. (Disclaimer: While milder versions of several of these problems actually occurred in cities during the actual Victorian era, the specific issues listed here are meant to apply to a fictional alternate world and do not always accurately reflect the actual climate of London, England in the 1890s.)

*The horrible working conditions of laborers in the low town. Huge numbers of lower- and low-middle-class workers are sent down into the low town to work in the incredibly smoggy, crowded, dangerous, disease-ridden, and sometimes toxic factory environments.

*The poor living conditions and high rates of poverty in several areas of the city. The government has done little to nothing to address these conditions, and it requires complicated paperwork to allow anyone to legally help the poor. People caught helping without said paperwork can be imprisoned or killed.

* Thousands of people have been trapped in the abandoned residential areas of the low town and face imprisonment or death if they are caught escaping. Some people have learned of this situation in spite of the government’s best efforts to keep it secret, and some low towners have been cleverly smuggled into London-in-the-Air by sympathetic citizens.

* The flourishing criminal underworld in London-in-the-Air has strong ties with the legitimate government. People disappear without a trace with alarming frequency. Policemen and detectives get bribed off all the time. And the government does little, if anything, about any of this. Being a criminal is less likely to land you in prison than being openly rebellious is.

*The general fact that people disappear quickly after they speak too loudly against the government or look too deeply into it. At best, this government handles opposition by tormenting people until they shut up. At worst, rebels are killed openly, and the deaths are reported as accidents.

*The government would rather be feared than loved and thus puts on displays of power and violence to get people to obey it, instead of listening to its citizens and making genuine efforts to improve conditions and the way things are run in order to earn people’s trust and loyalty.

*Some pretty unethical scientific experiments are being supported by the city government, though few know any specifics. It involves dangerous human experimentation, though. No superheroes or such have resulted from these experiments. Yet. They may or may not involve cyborgs, though. More on that topic in a later set ;)

*On a more mundane note, people that aren’t healthy white property owning adult males don’t have a lot of rights and are looked down upon by the government. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, etc. – if it is a negative -ism, you can probably find it here. Even a fairly well-off person who isn’t normally around the poor and doesn’t care much about them might be angry about this.

If you have another idea for why your character is in the resistance and you’re not sure whether it will work, feel free to PM me and ask about it!


	4. Meet the Antagonists / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

After reading everyone's backstories and thinking about just how the city government is set up, I came up with a group of 19 villainous characters that exist in the world of London-in-the-Air. Feel free to add them into backstories to give your characters nemeses or to include/discuss them in any story for this group - you don't need to tag me when you use them. They are here to give your characters villains to struggle against, as well as to open up some plot opportunities. However, no OCs may be in any way related to the mayor or to any character listed here who's on the city board, both for plot reasons and to keep things fair. If you want to make your character an illegitimate child or close relative of an evil scientist, a government assassin, a so-called "captain of industry", or whatever the heck Percy is, that might work, but PM me before you make that their official backstory. No OC may be the legitimate child or adopted child of any villain listed here. The villains in this set also cannot be killed, redeemed, or treated as official love interests or significant others. Yet ;) More information on that will come during the contests.

Also, as a disclaimer, this is not how London’s government actually worked in 1893. And the mad scientists and cyborg assassins are just here because this wouldn’t be a quintessential steampunk group without them ;)

That said, London-in-the-Air’s city government is led pretty much jointly by both a mayor and the chairman of the London-in-the-Air Board of Lands and Public Works (a cruel dystopian oligarchy in charge of all of the daily tasks of keeping the city up and running and minimally polluted). The other board members have quite a bit of power, too.

So, without further ado, meet the villains!

NOTE: I may make separate sets for some of these villains in the future. I'll add those links under characters' names as needed.

\- City Government

* Lord Mayor Everett Norval Jassop Steers, Age 47 – FC: Vincent Price – Mayor Steers more or less declared himself long-term mayor of all of London-in-the-Air after being chosen to lead part of the city for a short time. He was accepted by all at first due to his strong personality and his promises to preserve the wellbeing of the new city at all costs. He now acts as the polite and stoic public face of the city government but rules with an iron fist (and with the frequent advice of one Mr. Alistair Hazard).

* Walter Anthony Marcus "Walt" Steers, Age 25 – FC: Tom Felton – Walter is the son of Mayor Steers and his late wife, as well as the protégé of his father and possibly the only living person that Mayor Steers loves. Polite, manipulative, charming, distant, and clever (but with a shy streak and at least a little empathy for others), Walt pretty much listens to whatever his father tells him and is focused on his own rising political career. Ironically for someone who tends to be a bit shy, he is also a SERIOUS flirt and can be a bit loose-lipped, especially once he's had a bit to drink ;)

\- The London-in-the-Air Board of Lands and Public Works:

*Chairman Alistair Hazard, Age 45 – FC: Cillian Murphy – Mr. Hazard is a brilliant and sadistic strategist who believes that fear is more powerful than loyalty and that well-targeted violence is usually a valid answer. Nonetheless, he has a quirky and nervous demeanor and a boundless imagination. Many people don’t suspect just how cruel he is. He serves as the head of the London Board of Lands and Public Works and is the brains behind most of the government’s crimes.

*Captain Oswald Lionel Scarborough, Age 43 – FC: Richard Armitage – Mr. Scarborough is an imposing and eloquent board member and former army captain with a very strict sense of discipline. He believes that Chairman Hazard's oppressive methods and cruel strategy are necessary to keep the city in good order. Nonetheless, he will not condone random violence in the streets if he doesn't see a point to it. He loves going on and on about his glorious days in the army when, in actuality, he never saw much actual field action, if any.

*Simon Ashwood Page, Age 33 – FC: Elijah Wood – Mr. Page is the youngest member of the board and more or less does what all of the older members tell him to do. He actually has some good ideas and believes that some limited reforms might help the government gain popularity. As of the present, he has submitted 5 requests to be allowed to start a government-approved charity. All 5 have been denied in spite of his position. However, he worked hard to get to where he is and is too timid and self-doubting to fight his superiors' decisions. And he does not like the idea of a revolution at all. He is the only member of the board who believes the resistance will soon become a major threat.

*Professor Clement Wickham Burns, Age 40 – FC: Leonardo DiCaprio – Professor Burns is a scientific expert and has made several vetoed proposals to try to clean up the low town. But he's also in charge of the cruel experiments government scientists are doing because he believes they will eventually lead to a better world. He's the council member most likely to shout in a meeting, but he's the most likely council member to go out for a drink with the others after a meeting and have everyone cracking up at his jokes. He is famous for his sense of humor and excellent taste in cigars.

\- The Hazard Family

* Mrs. Geneva Ross-Hazard, Age 40 – FC: Jessica Chastain – Geneva is Alistair Hazard’s wife and the vain, artistic, well-mannered grand dame of the city’s social scene, but she is not aware of the sheer magnitude of her husband’s crimes behind the scenes. She may be a pompous priss who believes in most of the oppressive and discriminatory ideas of her society, but if she were to learn of it, she would not condone her husband’s sheer brutality and cruelty towards everyone he opposes.

* Ms. Elmira Constance Hazard, Age 21 – FC: Codie Young – Alistair Hazard’s younger child, Elmira is a fashionable but self-centered and naïve young woman who had a very sheltered childhood and has never considered that her father might just be a truly horrible person. She is a student of language and excels at embroidery. Her father is dead set on marrying her off to Walter Steers.

\- The Evil Scientists

* Dr. Thornton Casper Kern, Age 39 – FC: Tom Hiddleston – A stark raving mad scientist who doesn’t really care who gets hurt as long as he’s doing something FOR SCIENCE, Dr. Kern is currently involved in rather unethical experiments to see how the substitution of biological parts with mechanical ones might affect the human body. He also enjoys beekeeping, ice skating, and keeping a strict regimen of exercise. Ironically, though he is an evil scientist, he does abhor the poor conditions in the factories in the low town because that isn't FOR SCIENCE, and science is the only legitimate justification he sees for cruelty.

*Warren John Herald, Age 25 – FC: Daniel Radcliffe – Warren is Dr. Kern's lab assistant who just graduated from university with specialties in chemistry and robotics. Warren comes from a middle class family but set himself apart from his peers with his intelligence, resourcefulness, and intensely competitive nature. His hobbies include cooking and collecting insects, and he is a terrible public speaker. Warren has little in the way of artistic sensibility or social grace, but he is great at what he does, and after all he’s done to get to where he is, he does not especially care who he has to step on in order to succeed in his work.

* Lord Thaddeus Beck, Age 37 – FC: Benedict Cumberbatch – Thaddeus is the eldest son of a still-living earl, as well as mad scientist who is now questioning his superiors and regretting some of his own actions. He was friends with Dr. Kern until recently and was involved in the same experiments as he was. Lord Beck has a weakness for all tea and for hot chocolate with cinnamon and chile pepper, and his current best friend is his pet St. Bernard, Earl Grey. He is looking for an opportunity to betray the government but is worried about the repercussions.

\- The Government Assassins

* Ambrose Lynch, Age 51 - FC: Gerard Butler – A professional executioner and assassin in the employ of the city government, he views his job as little more than work he has to do to make a living and does not enjoy, but he is intensely loyal to the government and excels at what he does. Though his job calls for quite a bit of silence and stealth, when not on the job, he whistles to himself at least 60% of the time. He has been in his trade for 20 years and is responsible for disposing of people that Chairman Hazard wants gone.

* Davis “Dave” Heaton, Age 29 – FC: Eddie Redmayne – Dave works as an assistant and apprentice to Ambrose Lynch. He has ended many lives in his 11 years on the job and specializes in making deaths look like accidents. He is a clever dandy and a bit of a daredevil. And it's rumored that he may have some mechanical limbs, though the types of clothes he wears hide them. When not on the job, he can usually be found either playing the violin or caring for his pet cats. He has 8 of them, by the way. Yes, he is a cyborg assassin who rescues kittens. Please don't tease him about that. You WILL be sorry.

* Lenora “Nori” Lynch, Age 21 – FC: Lorde – Ambrose Lynch’s daughter and youngest apprentice, Nori has been training since she was 16 years old and working as an assassin since she was 18. The fact that she’s a young woman means most people don't suspect that she’s following in her father’s footsteps. She has a deep desire to prove that she can be as strong and as effective as any male assassin and is highly competitive with Dave. Her weapons of choice are firearms and poison.

\- Captains of Industry

* G. Rufus Doland, Age 50 - FC: Johnny Depp – By far the most ruthless, albeit also the wittiest and most eccentric, of London-in-the-Air’s factory owners, he loves parrots, rare plants, tea biscuits, and most of all his wife, but he is not especially sorry that people are dying of illness and factory accidents left and right due to his heartless business decisions. Mr. Doland is an original and inventive man who cares very much for his own comfort and that of his family and friends, but he cares little about the men and women who go down to the low town every day to work in his factories.

* Mrs. Fortuna Doland, Age 48 - FC: Helena Bonham Carter – Fortuna is the third wife of G. Rufus Doland and was his childhood sweetheart. She is as witty as her husband and perhaps even a tad smarter, and she is better at interacting nicely with the public than he is. Her fashion sense is famously eccentric and elaborate, and she is willing to dispense help and advice to any of the other women of the upper class quite freely. Nonetheless, she is as apathetic towards her husband’s workers as her husband is. She is a close friend and confidante of Geneva Ross-Hazard.

* Sir Clinton Ballantine Archer Sterling, Baronet, Age 38 – FC: Luke Evans – Sir Clinton is a businessman, industrialist, politician, accomplished musician, and avid sportsman. If he sees profit or advantage in any given pursuit, he’ll become involved in a heartbeat. He is fixated on gaining money and power to make up for his deadbeat father destroyed his family’s fortune and good name. He married his wife due to the wealth and power of her family, but he has grown to genuinely care for and respect her. He owns several factories in the low town and is a staunch supporter of his brother-in-law, Chairman Hazard. He and his wife have a son named Paxton (12) and a daughter named Flora (8).

* Charlotte, Lady Sterling (formerly Charlotte Anabelle Hazard), Age 35 – FC: Anna Friel – Charlotte is the wife of Sir Clinton Sterling and the younger sister of Chairman Hazard. Charlotte is elegant and proper and typically unflappable – it is very difficult to daunt or fluster dear Lady Sterling. She once dreamed of becoming a doctor but was ordered by her parents and to study music instead and to marry for a title. In spite of this, she cares for her husband and loves her children. Lady Sterling is close to her brother and wouldn't betray him, although she suspects that he’s done some awful things that he’s not being honest with her about. She and her husband have a son named Paxton (12) and a daughter named Flora (8).

-Aaaand That One Rogue Guy

*Percival “Percy” Albright, Age 39 – FC: Jude Law – Mr. Albright claims to be a contractor, but he’s also the head of most criminal groups in London-in-the-Air. Mouthy, mysterious, poetic, and enigmatic, Percy claims to answer to no one but cooperates with the city government all the time in exchange for having his criminal operations left alone. Yet, he may not be unquestioningly loyal to his benefactors. Percy is willing to smuggle supplies to the resistance for a price, and hasn’t ratted on them yet. His history, motives, and true loyalties are, at this point, unknown.

More villains my be added in another set, depending on if I see any villain types that we're short on later. I'm also planning on making a set like this for non-OC resistance members, as well as on making individual sets for some of these villains in order to make this description a little shorter and more manageable. And feel free to make up your own side OC villains, too! The city board, in particular, has more than 4 or 5 members, and there's plenty room for more if there's a particular type of evil character you want to introduce to your storyline. Just tag me on the set where they first show up so I can see what sorts of villains are at work here :)


	5. Society and Government and Such / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

This set actually began as a reply to a wonderful set of questions asked by @from-the-garden, but I quickly realized that a lot of the information I was covering would be very helpful to everyone. That, and the answer was way too long to be a comment. I've already comment-bombed people with world-building info before (sorry about that, @blood-red-queen!), and I think from here on out I will answer important, complicated, and multi-part questions in separate information sets.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Even in the alternate world where this battle group is set, Queen Victoria is the ruler of England in 1893, and the British system of government still involves the monarchy, the Prime Minister, and Parliament. However, I recently decided that there was no way the queen and the governing body of the British Empire could be stationed in London-in-the-Air and not notice all the craziness going on. So in this version of the world, after the original city of London became incredibly polluted but before London-in-the-Air was built, the national government had no choice but to move out of London and relocated to the countryside. A city called Queen's Grove has sprung up around the new seat of government and serves as the capital city.

The Prime Minister in this world is different from the one in the real world at the time. His name is Howard Loveland Ellis (FC: Robert Downey, Jr.), and he's a very practical man who realizes that there are problems to deal with beyond looking deeply into the government of a single city. London-in-the-Air isn't the only city in the empire where conditions are kind of bad, after all. London-in-the-Air is ruled by the Lord Mayor and the city board and, due to its status as a self-sufficient sky city, the monarchy, the Prime Minister, and Parliament don't usually interfere with it.

Queen Victoria has only visited London-in-the-Air once and is currently alright with it. The queen simply abhors air ships and only resorts to flying in them when absolutely necessary, so she doesn't visit often. Prime Minister Ellis has visited a few times and is mostly impressed with how the government seems to run smoothly and have no vocal opposition. He thinks keeping all the messy industrial stuff down in the ruined old city is a good idea, and he is not aware of many of the most unsavory things about the city's government. In general, the British government doesn't make the bothersome airship trip to visit the city personally very often. The Lord Mayor and the city board more or less have free reign of things as long as London-in-the-Air continues running well and looks good in front of the rest of the world.

There are a couple of other sky cities in England and several more across the world. Most notably, a good portion of New York City has been abandoned and replaced with Manhattan-in-the-Air. But this group is only going to focus on London-in-the-Air for now.

Otherwise, the culture and societal structure of England are very much as they were during the real Victorian era. Major differences will be discussed as they come up. For now, big differences include the fact that London is no longer the official British capital (though it is still a highly influential city and is considered a sort of cultural capital) and is pretty much resting on giant metal stilts, the crazy amounts of technology being figured out much earlier than in the real world, and (to a certain extent) the number of jobs available to women. London-in-the-Air's government and society are still rather sexist, and women are considered not perfectly suited to many trades. Still, for the purposes of this battle group, a few more female doctors, engineers, mechanics, lawyers, etc. exist in this world in 1893 than existed in the real world in 1893.

It cannot be stressed enough, though, that the technology of this world's 1893 is very, very advanced, which has caused a lot of interesting advantages and problems. People are already building giant steam-powered basic computers. Complex robots exist, airships are as common a form of travel as planes are today, and steam-powered cars are efficient and popular. The concept of the assembly line emerged early, and clockwork cyborgs are going to show up at some point in this plot. England is at the head of the technological advances going on in this world and gets its resources by colonizing resource-rich areas regardless of who already lives there. Pollution and contamination on a huge scale became a bigger problem more quickly than in reality. Working conditions range from surprisingly decent to absolutely horrible.

And, as in the real Victorian era, there are wide class divides, a lot of general prejudices and biased attitudes, problems with poverty and pollution, and terrible working and living conditions for many people in major cities all over the Western world. The class structure is rigid. Lots of progress is being made all over the place, but at a cost to people and to resources. And that is not even touching the devastating global effects of imperialist policies.

This group will just focus on one city that has bad conditions and some especially outspoken residents, but it's probably not even the worst city out there.

So, in other words, this is a high-tech dystopian take on the Victorian era set within a closed circle. London-in-the-Air will remain fairly isolated until the later contests, at which point the resistance and the city government might both start reaching out for help. The national government of England is not going to be able to just swoop in and save the city (though it might become involved at some point, particularly the prime minister).

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Thanks again to @from-the-garden for asking the major questions which inspired this post! It was rather fun making this, actually :) If anyone else has questions about the world of London-in-the-Air or would like to see a set that addresses some question or problem, just let me know!


	6. Basic Layout of the City / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

Based upon group members’ responses to the survey set I recently posted (if you’re in the group and haven’t responded yet, it can be found here: http://www.polyvore.com/survey_about_desired_fact_sets/set?id=185069027), I’ve decided to release a few sets on the basic layout of London-in-the-Air. After all, it’ll be kind of hard to write about a huge rebellion in a city if no one knows what the city looks like.  
\---------------------------------------------------------  
The city of London-in-the-Air consists of 24 main platforms, each one held up by several towers. The resources to construct both the platforms and the towers were brought in from all over the world, and all 24 of the main platforms were in place by 1858. Construction took less than a decade in total. The rapid speed of construction was somewhat due to urgency and to lots of architectural and industrial innovations made especially for the project. The advanced technology of this world and the huge steam-powered construction machines being used were even more helpful in getting such a massive architectural project done so quickly.

The 24 main platforms are each named officially after a letter of the classical Greek alphabet, as these were the designations that each main platform was given during construction. Each platform ranges from 2 to 7 square miles in surface area. The number of pillars supporting each platform varies based on the platform’s size and position and on the quality of terrain beneath the platform. A series of smaller platforms exist to help connect larger platforms and to provide extra living space. These connector platforms can hold entire neighborhoods of cramped housing and small businesses in the poorer areas of the city. In total, the city is built on 135 square miles of platform surfaces and boasts a population of over 4,000,000.

Since each main platform holds between 64 and 114 city blocks, each one contains multiple neighborhoods and districts. In the most severe cases, one end of a platform might consist of comfortable if crowded middle-class neighborhoods while the other end contains a slum. It’s more common to see people and businesses of similar social classes on the same platform, but the types of businesses present and the exact social rank of the average inhabitant differs from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Platforms Alpha through Zeta are pleasant, affluent areas with a mix of residential, commercial, financial, and governmental areas that have luxuries like artificial parks and green lawns and flower beds. Platforms Eta through Lambda have less vegetation, and their buildings are typically fairly clean and dignified but rather simple and even austere in appearance. Some small parks and private gardens do exist on these platforms, though, and none of the pipes and wires and metal slabs underlying the city are plainly visible. Platforms Mu through Pi are a bit more rundown, and there are places where you can easily see some supports holding the city up or pipes being used to import water. The lower-middle class and upper-low class flourish here, along with a lot of businesses catering to those classes.

Platforms Rho through Chi are mostly inhabited by factory workers and other poor working folks. Multiple slum areas exist here. The landscape is uniformly gray and bleak, with exposed pipes and metal visible everywhere. Most structures are ramshackle and in poor repair. Conditions vary a little from platform to platform, but in general, the richest person living here is at the very bottom of the middle class, and there are plenty of beggars roaming the streets. Platform Psi is, strangely enough, solidly middle class with little green space and many simple buildings in decent repair, while Omega holds the sky docks for the many airships that arrive at the city, along with a variety of warehouses and simple, low-prestige laboratories.

Most main platforms are generally known for one or two specific things. Alpha is the place where the rich live and play. Omega is the wharf and warehouse district, as well as a haven for small-time scientists and inventors. On the other hand, most of the small connector platforms have no specific reputation and are named based on the greater platforms they connect according to the format “The (Main Platform)-(Other Main Platform) Crossing”. The tiny platform that provides a shortcut between Beta and Epsilon is just called “The Beta-Epsilon Crossing”. A few of the connector platforms have developed a character and a reputation of their own, though, and some have won unofficial names because of this. Those names will be noted on the map sets, along with the reputation that won the connector platform that name.

In general, on the map sets, I will show the relative size and location of each main platform and each noteworthy connector platform. I will also give a brief description of each platform’s contents and reputation, along with any interesting trivia that might make the area a cool place to set some stories.

If you have any questions about specific platforms’ locations or contents before I get the map sets up, feel free to comment on this set or to PM me with any questions!


	7. London-in-the-Air Map Part 1 / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

So, I finally managed to figure out how to make a decent rough map of the city in Polyvore! I think I is hard to convey in words just how happy and proud this is making me feel right now :)

Each of the main platforms is labeled, and so are the more important connecting platforms. Any squares and rectangles that are not labeled represent major connector platforms that don't have any special name or reputation. Other smaller connecting platforms exist, as do various bridges, ramps, lifts, etc. for traveling from one part of the city to the other, but the 50-item limit on sets means I couldn't add in all of them. Imagine them as being at various points along the edges of all the platforms.

I plan to get a brief description of each major platform and named crossing up soon! For now, refer to my earlier city layout set (http://www.polyvore.com/london-in-the-air_facts_construction_basic_layout/set?id=185296862) for a basic idea of what each platform contains. I'll fill in the basics of each individual platform in this description as I can.

* Alpha - This is the ritziest residential area on London-in-the-Air, home to the Lord Mayor, much of the council, and the majority of titled individuals living in the city. Typical homes here are beautiful Victorian mansions with lush lawns and gardens grown in imported soil. The edges of this platform are surrounded by short and elegant marble walls. The platform also includes a couple of small artificial parks and a variety of expensive eateries and specialty shops, as well as meeting spaces and personal offices for a few very wealthy individuals. Visitors from platforms further down in the alphabet than Zeta aren't especially welcome here.

* Beta - This platform is home to both a few posh residential neighborhoods and the most prestigious business district in the city. The offices of many of the large factories are located here. The biggest library in the city and several expensive cafes, stores, and art galleries sit between the business district and the rows of mansions that are comparable to Alpha's in size and in beauty. Most of Beta is taken up by the lovely business district, though - the platform's residential neighborhoods are pretty much extensions of the largely residential Alpha.

* Gamma - While it contains some more lovely residential neighborhoods, the houses on Gamma aren't quite the opulent mansions of Alpha and Beta. They still have lush lawns and lovely exteriors. The mansions aren't as large, though, or as ornate, and not all of them are painted in the latest colors or appointed with ALL the latest décor. It is also home to a very small but rather nice business district of its own and is the base platform of the most prestigious newspapers, art and craft studios, and scientific laboratories. If an artistic or scientific endeavor is considered especially prestigious, it's probably located on Gamma. All the government laboratories are located on Gamma.

* Golden Crossing - This connector platform is pretty much a giant fake park full of fountains and marble statues connecting Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. It got its name partially from the lovely gilded statue of Mayor Steers housed within a marble gazebo and protected only by a few railings and a very sturdy base. So far, no one has defaced it, and the government has not seen it as being in danger of being defaced. It's just sort of sitting there, all shiny and perfect. I fully expect it to be in not nearly as good of a condition by the end of this battle ;)

* Delta - This platform serves as the center of the city government of London-in-the-Air. The North Hall is a grand structure that houses the offices and meeting spaces of the Lord Mayor and the city board. It is also sometimes called "The Gilded Hall", in reference to the dirty dealings and rotten intentions festering inside the building's stately exterior. Of course, the hall has several other nicknames among the lower classes, too, but those names are best not mentioned in polite company. In the near vicinity of the North Hall are the city's two judicial buildings (one for petty crimes and one for felonies) and the headquarters of the police force. Delta also houses a variety of libraries, museums, and research institutions, as well as the city’s main financial district.

* Epsilon - Epsilon contains a wide variety of areas and institutions. There are a couple of universities on Epsilon, as well as a huge, gorgeous botanical garden. Other than that, it's home to several scientific laboratories, artistic ventures, and research institutions not quite prestigious enough for Gamma or Delta but still far too esteemed to be located among the common sorts. It has business districts populated by offices not quite good enough for Beta or Gamma and fancy shops and cafes not quite posh enough for Beta or Alpha. The houses in its residential neighborhoods are lovely but not as lovely as those found on any of the earlier platforms. Basically, Epsilon houses the best universities in the city, the lushest garden in the city, and the second- or third-best everything else.

* Zeta - Zeta contains two main regions. The western half is full of monuments and parks that feature band pavilions and carousels and lantern-lit paths and even an artificial lake. The main theater district is here, as are a few nice public gardens, the city fairgrounds, a little zoo, and museum of oddities. This part of Zeta is mainly visited by the middle and upper classes in the city and by sightseers. The eastern half of Zeta is full of relatively simple but still quaint and pleasant houses belonging mainly to the people that keep the entertainment district of the platform running. A variety of interesting people who've made a decent living for themselves doing bizarre and/or incredibly specialized jobs live here. A few of them could be considered to be part of the lower upper class in terms of wealth, but outside of the couple of fashionable neighborhoods for famous actors and singers and other stars, the neighborhoods on Zeta are solidly middle class but colorful in their appearance. The far eastern part of Zeta does include a few lower-middle-class neighborhoods and even a few relatively poor neighborhoods. These are were many of the less successful and recognized individuals who keep the entertainment district running live.

* Eta - Eta contains a mix of mostly middle-class businesses and trades and the homes of the people who work in those businesses and trades. It's known for being pleasant enough but being incredibly boring and uniform. Everyone's a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher or a store owner or the master of his own trade shop (or at least well-ranked within the trade shop). People make a lot of jokes about how people on Eta envy people on Iota who envy people on Epsilon who envy people on Gamma and so on. Etiquette and propriety are considered very important in most neighborhoods on this platform, even more important than they're considered in many upper class neighborhoods.

* Theta - Theta is pretty much a clone of platform Eta expect for the fact that different people live on it and businesses with different names are located there, and for the fact that it's somewhat lower class. Parts of it house a lot of cooks, house servants, janitors, and the like who would be living in the southern parts of the city if they didn't serve the upper class individuals living on Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. As it is, eastern Theta consists of a lot of houses that look neat and similar on the outside but show hidden signs of poverty and struggle inside.

* Iota - Iota has a lot of universities, a lot of housing and resources specifically geared towards university students. It also sports many comfortable residential neighborhoods made up mostly of doctors, lawyers, and businessmen not quite rich enough to be part of the upper class, as well as professors and researchers at the three universities on this platform. Iota is famous for having many affordable yet good places to eat, as well as for being full of people who are just not quite rich enough to belong in the truly fashionable areas of town. This platform is the place where the social and economic gap between the rich and the not-quite-rich in this city is most clearly obvious. And of course there are a lot of students who spend lots of time causing mischief and running to Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon for better research and study opportunities.

* Kappa - People living here range from the upper-lower class to the high middle class. Big differences in housing quality and local character exist between neighborhoods here. A lot of the poorer workers keeping Zeta, Gamma, Beta, and Alpha running live in the lower class neighborhoods here. It's the place where the people directly responsible for keeping the wealthy's world running smoothly live quietly and away from the public sight. It's kind of like the situation in the Wizard of Oz - pay no attention to the people behind the curtain making everything work.

* Lambda - Lambda is possibly the best example of what the most comfortable end of the middle class spectrum looks like in London-in-the-Air. Parks and simple but quaint houses populate the middle of the platform. Some libraries and a few laboratories exist in the east and west parts of the platform, and there are lots of very pleasant and acceptable places for the middle class to shop and dine. There are several colleges and a couple of finishing schools here, also, and an entire neighborhood known for housing many excellent music, language, etiquette, and art teachers. There is a specific air ferry for wealthy young ladies that takes the poor delicate fragile girls from Alpha, Beta, or Gamma to this part of Lambda. Being one of the city's central platforms and part of the main route from the sky docks in the south of town to the pleasantness of the north, Lambda was specifically designed to be a nice place to pass through.

* Mu - Mu is one of the most industrial areas in the sky city due to the fact that most of the really messy, disgusting factories are confined to the ground. A lot of sewing and textile factories with little machinery and lots of handwork are located here, along with crowded but not completely horrid living areas for their workers. In general, there are a lot of large workshops and manufacturers that mostly require skilled labor on this platform. Residential areas are small and cramped and jammed between work spaces.

* Nu - The eastern half of Nu is very similar to Mu, but the western half is a bit more artsy and slightly more comfortable. Many of western Nu's neighborhoods contain struggling writers and artists and performers, and it's the home of most of the few newspapers and schools in the city that serve the lower class. A substantial community of rather poor yet decently educated individuals live here, and it's a great place to find a doctor, lawyer, tutor, writer, or craftsman who's down on their luck but decent at their trade.

* Xi - It is agreed by most people in the city that, if you're a member of the working class who can't afford much in the way of housing or resources, Xi is the best platform to live on. It's inhabited mostly by laborers and tradespeople near the top of the lower class and has a generally friendly aura to it. The typical housing units are quite small apartments, but these apartments are nowhere near as small as the average living space on many of the other predominantly lower-class platforms, and they're usually fairly well-constructed and clean-ish by the standards of the day for lower class living areas. A lot of small, cheap groceries and shops and cafes flourish here, and it's an excellent place for a struggling artist or craftsperson to set up a shop. The excellent pubs there also tend to foster a spirit of camaraderie amongst the people in the neighborhoods where they're located. Many workers in Mu's factories who've saved enough money live on Xi to escape the terribly cramped conditions on Mu.

* Central Crossing - This connecting platform is sort of a hub area connecting six platforms. It's called "Central Crossing" because you must pass through it on the way from the south of the city to the north or from the north of the city to the south. It and Omicron are the links between the dirty, impoverished, hidden areas of town and the shiny, presentable ones. It has a lot of different paths and a lot of shops and places to eat for travelers. Its lesser-known alleys and corners are also hotbeds both for the criminal underground and for the network of upper- and middle-class citizens trying to sneak money and aid to poorer areas of the city without getting government approval. City authorities also use the Central Crossing as a way to control who moves between the northern and southern halves of the city, as this crossing is the only way to get from hub-like main platform Omicron to the northern parts of the city.

* Omicron - In a deviation from most of the platforms surrounding it, Omicron is solidly middle class, with the very middle of the middle class inhabiting neighborhoods near the center of the platform and the lower middle class living in neighborhoods closer to the left and right edges of the platform. A lot of tiny shops and eateries with decent prices and neat appearances and window planters with a few flowers in them also appear in the middle of this platform. Why? Most visitors to London-in-the-Air enter the city through the sky docks on Omega. The city's planners determined that it would look horrible if visitors had to pass through a bunch of slums to get to nicer parts of the city. As a result, platforms and the neighborhoods on them were planned so that visitors could take a path straight back from the sky docks, through perfectly decent residential areas and small rows of shops and cheap but neat cafes, and all the way to the museums, gardens, and other city gems in the north part of town. Omicron's central neighborhoods are part of that path. This allows visitors of the middle and upper classes to bypass all the dirt and grime and poverty that lies on the edges of the city.

* Pi - This platform mostly contains unremarkable residential neighborhoods for the very bottom of the middle class and those of the lowest class who can manage to afford some sort of housing. However, Pi also hides an important secret - the main headquarters of the resistance. A variety of hollow areas exist in the platforms upon which the city rests, with at least two on each platform. These areas were where workers lived during the initial construction of the city, and they were supposedly sealed off when construction was completed, but mechanics and engineers in the resistance managed to secretly break a few of the seals blocking off the main compartment within Pi. The location of this hideout is currently very secure and known only to resistance members. It mostly contains meeting and working space for resistance members, but there are also supply areas and some living quarters for those who need them. This is not the only place the resistance meets or keeps supplies but is the largest facility they have. Resistance members often access the hideout through the cellar of the home of small-time magician Forrester James, a resistance sympathizer living on Pi. Entrances also exist in a garbage dump and beneath a small grocery store.

There wasn't enough room in this set for me to show the southern half of the city on this map. Instead, platforms Rho through Omega will be mapped out in a second set.


	8. London-in-the-Air Map Part 2 / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 1, but I am breaking my chronological order rule just this once to put it next to the other half of the map. This set was not finished before Polyvore went down.

After a ridiculous several-week-long delay, I've finally managed to map out the southern half of the city of London-in-the-Air! HUZZAH!!!

Each of the main platforms is labeled, and so are the more important connecting platforms. Any squares and rectangles that are not labeled represent major connecting platforms that don't have any special name or reputation. In this part of the city, though, expect there to be crowded lower class neighborhoods squished onto all of the unnamed connecting platforms shown in this map. Also, East and West Cantry are so full of rundown shops and makeshift living spaces that some people consider them honorary main platforms. Other smaller connecting platforms exist, as do various bridges, ramps, lifts, etc. for traveling from one part of the city to the other, but the 50-item limit on sets means I couldn't add in all of them. Imagine them as being at various points along the edges of all the platforms.

I plan to get a brief description of each major platform and named crossing up soon! For now, refer to my earlier city layout set (http://www.polyvore.com/london-in-the-air_facts_construction_basic_layout/set?id=185296862) for a basic idea of what each platform contains and my earlier map set (http://www.polyvore.com/london-in-the-air_map_part/set?id=185411561) for an idea of how the northern part of the city is laid out. I'll fill in the basics of each individual platform in this description as I can :)

* Xi - It is agreed by most people in the city that, if you're a member of the working class who can't afford much in the way of housing or resources, Xi is the best platform to live on. It's inhabited mostly by laborers and tradespeople near the top of the lower class and has a generally friendly aura to it. The typical housing units are quite small apartments, but these apartments are nowhere near as small as the average living space on many of the other predominantly lower-class platforms, and they're usually fairly well-constructed and clean-ish by the standards of the day for lower class living areas. A lot of small, cheap groceries and shops and cafes flourish here, and it's an excellent place for a struggling artist or craftsperson to set up a shop. The excellent pubs there also tend to foster a spirit of camaraderie amongst the people in the neighborhoods where they're located. Many workers in Mu's factories who've saved enough money live on Xi to escape the terribly cramped conditions on Mu.

* Central Crossing - This connecting platform is sort of a hub area connecting six platforms. It's called "Central Crossing" because you must pass through it on the way from the south of the city to the north or from the north of the city to the south. It and Omicron are the links between the dirty, impoverished, hidden areas of town and the shiny, presentable ones. It has a lot of different paths and a lot of shops and places to eat for travelers. Its lesser-known alleys and corners are also hotbeds both for the criminal underground and for the network of upper- and middle-class citizens trying to sneak money and aid to poorer areas of the city without getting government approval. City authorities also use the Central Crossing as a way to control who moves between the northern and southern halves of the city, as this crossing is the main way to move between halves of the city.

* Omicron - In a deviation from most of the platforms surrounding it, Omicron is solidly middle class, with the very middle of the middle class inhabiting neighborhoods near the center of the platform and the lower middle class living in neighborhoods closer to the left and right edges of the platform. A lot of tiny shops and eateries with decent prices and neat appearances and window planters with a few flowers in them also appear in the middle of this platform. Why? Most visitors to London-in-the-Air enter the city through the sky docks on Omega. The city's planners determined that it would look horrible if visitors had to pass through a bunch of slums to get to nicer parts of the city. As a result, platforms and the neighborhoods on them were planned so that visitors could take a path straight back from the sky docks, through perfectly decent residential areas and small rows of shops and cheap but neat cafes, and all the way to the museums, gardens, and other city gems in the north part of town. Omicron's central neighborhoods are part of that path. This allows visitors of the middle and upper classes to bypass all the dirt and grime and poverty that lies on the edges of the city.

* Pi - This platform mostly contains unremarkable residential neighborhoods for the very bottom of the middle class and those of the lowest class who can manage to afford some sort of housing. However, Pi also hides an important secret - the main headquarters of the resistance. A variety of hollow areas exist in the platforms upon which the city rests, with at least two on each platform. These areas were where workers lived during the initial construction of the city, and they were supposedly sealed off when construction was completed, but mechanics and engineers in the resistance managed to secretly break a few of the seals blocking off the main compartment within Pi. The location of this hideout is currently very secure and known only to resistance members. It mostly contains meeting and working space for resistance members, but there are also supply areas and some living quarters for those who need them. This is not the only place the resistance meets or keeps supplies but is the largest facility they have. Resistance members often access the hideout through the cellar of the home of small-time magician Forrester James, a resistance sympathizer living on Pi. Entrances also exist in a garbage dump and beneath a small grocery store.

* Rho -

*Sigma - Sigma is, in many respects, the dirtier twin of Pi. Like Pi, it houses the rock bottom of the middle class and a variety of levels of the lower class capable of affording some sort of housing conditions. It's a bit shadier than Pi, though. It has higher rates of disease and crime and houses several workhouses and businesses of questionable repute.


	9. Meet the Resistance / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted as part of the background for the game.

 

 

 

THIS SET DESCRIPTION IS FINALLY COMPLETE!!!!!!! I am feeling a deep sense of pride and utter glee right now haha :)

After quite a long while with only villain characters posted in this group, I've finally finished the set with important non-OC rebellion members. Huzzah! In making this, I tried to fill in gaps in the resistance's structure and to make at least a couple people who'd naturally associate with members of each team.

If you want more info on one of these characters, just ask :) And one final note - I doubt that all of these characters will survive to the end of the battle...

So, without further ado, meet the major non-OC figures of the LITA resistance!

\------------------------------------------------------

* Rebellion Leaders

\- Bartholomew Edward "Bart" Spencer - 51 - FC: Sean Bean - The widely accepted leader of the resistance, Bart sees himself as the spokesman of the group, nothing more and nothing less. Bartholomew is a natural peacemaker who excels at bringing out others' better nature. He himself has run several failed businesses and now owns a barely-surviving bookstore, but he has a talent for inspiring and enabling other people to succeed. This guy is a jack-of-all trades who can lend most anyone in the rebellion a hand if needed, as well as a generally wise person who excels at negotiating truces and giving advice. He was one of several people involved in the early planning of the resistance but was the only one whom everyone else liked and would agree to listen to. His greatest strengths as a leader are knowing exactly how to delegate work and managing to keep everyone working together smoothly even in the most difficult of situations. Many refer to him as the glue that keeps the resistance together. Unfortunately, he's perpetually overworked and exhausted due to his constant struggle to keep everyone else in the resistance happy.

\- Helena Spencer-Curtis - 49 - FC: Courtney Cox - Helena is the blunt, opinionated, angry, resourceful, and rather hilarious sister of Bart and Chauncey and the widowed mother of Tristan and Avery. Coming from a middle class family, she's quite capable of reading and writing well, though she's always struggled with math. Helena's greatest intelligence lies not in conventional school subjects but in being able to solve nigh-impossible problems with the resources at hand. She's generally considered a lot more intimidating than Bart. It's typically easier for her to command attention and for Bart to keep that attention. The two make a very good team and often help to make up for each other's weaknesses. Helena's powerful roundhouse kick and talent for writing satirical vignettes are both famous amongst the resistance. She can seem curt and stubborn to many people at first, and to some extent, she is. Her anger at the government over the web of discrimination and lies it has woven knows almost no bounds. She's a loving family member and a protective friend, but she doesn't even try to keep her general seething fury at the world a secret from anyone else in the resistance.

\- Cedric Thornton - 78 - FC: Ian McKellan - Cedric Thornton was one of the team of architects and engineers responsible for designing London-in-the-Air in the first place. His main work focused on designing the actual metal platforms the city rests upon, and he's the one who managed to break into the sealed-off compartment within Pi that serves as the resistance's main hideout. His knowledge of the city's construction and layout is unsurpassed among resistance members. Cedric is very intelligent but is notably lacking in tact. He says what he means with no filters regardless of the context. While not mean-spirited per se, he is a prickly person who excels in throwing insults at most everyone when they annoy him. And Cedric is almost always annoyed. In spite of all this, Cedric is a highly optimistic person who helped design LITA in the first place because he hoped it could serve as a second chance for the people of London who had accidentally destroyed their own city. He helped form the resistance with the hopes that people could have a second chance to do things right if a rebellion with the right leadership and motives succeeds. His best friend is Dr. Massey, and rumor has it that he is having an adorable late-in-life romance with Arianna Barclay behind closed doors.

\- Dr. Vernon Massey - 64 - FC: Charles Dance - Dr. Massey is a well-known author, astronomer, political philosopher, amateur tinkerer, and flutist who does well at most everything and gets bored very quickly. He sees life as a chess game and purposely gets himself into "impossible" situations so he can relish the challenge of getting back out of them. In the resistance, he's an important strategist valued for his insight into how the government is probably thinking and what the resistance can probably do to counter it. He stresses the importance of the rebellion having good public relations and building an image as a band of folk heroes, even though he absolutely fails at projecting any sort of heroic or even kindly image to others. It was his wife Daphne who became involved in the rebellion in the first place - he just followed her lead because he respects her and didn't really have a cause of his own to fight for. Nonetheless, he finds the resistance a truly fun group of brilliant and hopeless underdogs to work with, and he enjoys the challenge of keeping them out of trouble. Polite, restrained, calm, self-centered, scheming, and perfectionistic, he's almost the polar opposite of Cedric Thornton. Oddly, Cedric is the closest thing he has to a best friend.

\- Mrs. Daphne Massey - 57 - FC: Michelle Pfeiffer - Daphne Massey is the closest thing the resistance currently has to a spy master. Smart, restless, and compassionate, she became involved in the very first whispers of forming a resistance in LITA several years ago and has been deeply involved in the group ever since. Though she's not good at everything in the way her husband is, her talents for gathering and properly distributing information, for holding very purposeful conversations that seem casual and unimportant, for coordinating large groups, and for seeming about 10,000 times less formidable than she actually is make her a natural talent in the field of espionage. In a sense, she acts as her husband's heart and conscience. Their marriage was an arranged one, but it worked out very well when it turned out that they respected each other's intelligence and talents immensely and that Daphne gave Vernon some much-needed guidance against destroying things for fun. If your OC gathers a lot of intelligence on and information about the government, Mrs. Massey (along with Mr. Ridley) is someone they'll probably be interacting with quite a bit.

\- Eugenie Violet Howard-Dutch - 59 - FC: Meryl Streep - Mrs. Howard-Dutch is quite possibly the angriest person in a resistance full of intensely angry people. In the early days of London-in-the-Air, her husband Timothy Dutch was an esteemed member of the city board. He remained there through the end of Lord Stanley's time as chairman, protesting as the city went downhill. When Alistair Hazard came to power, he had Timothy assassinated when Mr. Dutch became a bit too aggressive to shut up easily. Eugenie's legendary response was to stroll into the North Hall when she knew Hazard was elsewhere, pick the lock on the door of his sound-proofed office, whip a pistol out of her skirt, shoot an "x" made of bullet holes into his favorite coat, and walk serenely away. Rather than leave the city after that like a normal person, she took refuge amidst the anonymity of the city's poorer areas and began to help organize the resistance. There she continued to fight for the justice and reforms she and her husband both so strongly believed in. She's a natural speaker and leader and a big taker of calculated risks. She also has a talent for cryptography. While strong, bold, encouraging, and willing to work with others, she's almost always serious, single-minded, and very mad.

\- Professor Edgar Gilbert - 38- FC: Martin Freeman - Edgar is a history professor and, as such, has talents for recognizing patterns, projecting possible outcomes, and finding references and precedent for any given situation. The professor is fiercely loyal to London and believes it's about to self-destruct under its current leadership. He believes that the right type of revolution could pull the city back from the brink. At the same time, a failed revolution would destroy it entirely, and even the wrong type of successful revolution could ruin London forever. He's often the voice of reason and moderation in a room of crazy geniuses and wide-eyed idealists. As such, he's a close friend of rebellion leader Bart Spencer. Edgar is generally seen as the most open-minded and approachable member of the rebellion's leadership. This is not to say that he's a flawless ambassador of goodwill and welcomer of new ideas - he tends to get hung up on details and has a hard time exerting any authority because everyone sees him as a friend, not as their superior. But Edgar is a practical, down-to-earth person with a lot of knowledge and common sense who speaks to everyone in the resistance and likes almost all of them.

* Specialists in the Resistance

\- Roger Kitt Ridley - 38 - FC: Basil Rathbone - Mr. Ridley is the editor of a newspaper written specifically by and for resistance members and sympathizers. He used to be a journalist for a major paper on Gamma, as well as a private investigator for wealthy clients. But something he refuses to talk about happened, something that disgusted him so much he gave up both his jobs, became a writing tutor, and offered his services as a detective and newspaperman to the resistance for free. Ridley is a certified genius with a sharp, dark wit and a devotion to the truth. He is also a demanding workaholic who expects only the best from the writers, investigators, and journalists who work with him. By all accounts, he is not an easy man to work with. Yet, Ridley is swift to reward a job well done, and he's been known to get his staff and friends out of severe trouble in incredibly resourceful and convincing ways. If your OC gathers a lot of intelligence on and information about the government, Mr. Ridley (along with Mrs. Massey) is someone they'll probably be interacting with quite a bit.

\- Chauncey Spencer - 38 - FC: Orlando Bloom - Chauncey would be the black sheep of any other family. Luckily for him, he was born a Spencer, and his generation of Spencers (as you might be noticing) are, in a sense, a whole family of black sheep. Outgoing, flirtatious, flighty, eccentric, and filled with an insatiable wanderlust, Chauncey absolutely fails at committing to pretty much anything. The resistance is the first thing he's managed to stick with for more than a few years. He hasn't lived in one part of the city for more than two years since he turned 18. He has a pet parrot whom he's trained to whistle "Greensleeves" every time someone says the word "green", he puts curry powder on almost everything he eats, and these are some his less bizarre quirks. In spite of his rampant oddness, Chauncey is not incompetent. His daring, love of wandering, and general likeableness make him an excellent messenger. If a piece of information needs to move quietly from one place to another, Chauncey will make that happen. Moreover, in spite of his supposedly short attention span, Chauncey has a very good memory and a sharp eye for detail when he wants to, and he's just as resourceful as his older sister. Some people suspect that much of his oddness is an act to keep others from guessing just how observant and aware he actually is.

\- Georgina "Gina" Gunn - 30 - FC: Eva Green - Gina is the daughter of now-deceased mad scientist extraordinaire Dr. Milburn Gunn and, though she was denied a formal education in her chosen fields of chemistry and mechanical engineering, her father made sure she had access to all of the texts and mentors and equipment she'd need to excel in her interests. Gina is currently in charge of creating and maintaining the resistance's unique arsenal of "high-tech" weapons. She likes making things go boom and knows about 10,000 different ways to do that. She's not just a crazy pyro, though; she's actually organized and practical and has pretty altruistic motives for being in the resistance. In spite of her love of burning things and her formidable ego, she's a pretty decent team player who tries to provide her co-workers with the resources and support they need to succeed. She's even willing to be the sidekick to others she respects if that's where she's most needed. But please, please, please do not ever even sort of criticize any of her work or accuse her of being insane unless you are fireproof. As the rebellion kicks into high gear, she may become a bit overwhelmed with managing every stage of weapon creation and distribution and give some of her responsibility and authority to a qualified colleague at my discretion. If your OC is an inventor, mechanic, engineer, scientist, soldier, or fighter, he or she probably knows Gina.

\- Tristan Curtis - 25 - FC: Chris Hemsworth - Daring, handsome, mature, athletic, and noble-minded, Tristan is the golden poster boy of the resistance. He may still be a young man, but he already has the charisma and conviction of a much more seasoned leader. His greatest talents lie in combat (both armed an unarmed), in rallying people together for some purpose, and in his knack for mathematics. In spite of his great reputation, Tristan hides a lot of self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy under his confident, heroic exterior. He feels a lot of pressure to be perfect, and he agonizes over every mistake he makes. Moreover, he's currently reeling from the assassination of his close friend Oscar Sherry (@/lunaofthemist). Tristan used to see the whole rebellion thing as being exciting and almost fun. After Oscar's death, he realized just how perilous a position he and everyone he cares about is in, and in spite of the brave face he puts on for others, Tristan is not taking this well inside.

\- Natalie "Nat" Catchpole - 28 - FC: Anna Kendrick - Nat is a seasoned factory worker who's been employed in the low town factories since her father died when she was 10. Most of her youth was spent in the streets, and she's perfectly capable of picking a pocket and of holding her own in a fight. She's seen the worst of the conditions the rebellion is fighting to end, and this is a huge part of her motivation. In spite of everything she's been through, Nat is still an optimistic and outgoing person with a great sense of gallows humor. It's suspected that her father originally came from a higher social class, as he taught her etiquette and how to write and read, rather odd skills for a simple laborer to have and to teach. Nat's also unusually well-spoken and eloquent for someone of her age and social status. Her good looks, chipper personality, and speaking ability have put her in the position of spokeswoman for the young factory workers in the rebellion. It's her job to see that messages and aid from the resistance reach her fellow factory workers. She's also currently trying to organize some of these workers into a small fighting force. It's been suggested *cough* by Dr. Massey *cough* that the resistance paint her as a Joan-of-Arc figure in their propaganda, even though she doesn't have a ton of power in the resistance proper and isn't quite the pure yet oppressed little saint others would like her to be.

\- Phoebe Emery - 27 - FC: Audrey Hepburn - Poised, elegant, graceful, soft-spoken, and petite, Ms. Emery is a renowned ballet dancer. No one in the government is currently considering that a young-faced, sweet-natured ballerina like her might be a serious threat to them. The city's leaders don't watch their mouths around Phoebe when she's performing in their gilded theaters or at their lavish parties because she's just a dainty ballerina who has nothing to do with them. In reality, this "dainty ballerina" is rebellion spymaster Mrs. Massey's apprentice, and Phoebe serves as her mentor's eyes and ears in the field. As such, Phoebe tries to help her fellow spies to find good "ins" and to get out of trouble whenever she can. When around other rebellion members, Phoebe is quietly but fiercely opinionated and will keep softly proving that she's right until her opponent just gives up. Her motives for joining the rebellion date back to her youth spent in the poorest and most unlivable areas of the city as one of 5 siblings, only 2 of which (herself and her brother Bram) survived to adulthood. When push eventually comes to shove, Phoebe is surprisingly good at unarmed combat. She's quick-thinking and fast-moving, and she knows exactly how to use her opponent's weight and size against them.

\- Arianna Barclay - 81 - FC: Judi Dench - Ms. Barclay was a secretary to the people who built LITA, meaning she's been deeply invested in this city from the beginning. She worked as a secretary and assistant for the early city government but resigned quietly after several years. Up until that point in her life, she'd been a mild-mannered old maid whose greatest talents were keeping things organized and making others look good. Suddenly she found her morals and ethics pushed to the limit. Ms. Barclay finally snapped when Mayor Steers decided he was in charge of all London because he felt like it. It was she who provided the resistance with its first information on the government. Her health is starting to fail, and she spends more and more time in a wheelchair, but she's sharp as ever. Against all odds, she still does an excellent job of keeping everything organized and orderly and acts as a sort of secretary to the resistance. She also acts as everybody's grandma. This woman knits hats for everyone and buys them each an orange and a piece of stick candy for Christmas. Rumor has it that she is having an adorable late-in-life romance with Cedric Thornton behind closed doors.

\- Benjamin "Ben" Easton - 58 - FC: Liam Neeson - Ben is a talented lawyer who knows ALL the loopholes. Give him most any law and he'll give you at least 2 ways to disregard said law without actually doing anything that's technically illegal. Ben typically presents himself as a stoic professional with little personal interest in...well, anything. But he's often heard playing the piano and crying alone in his office behind a locked door. He may well be the only adult male in the rebellion who never drinks alcohol. In spite of his tough looks, he's also one of the weakest physical fighters in the rebellion and is seeking combat training from other members. Sometimes he sends letters to an aunt in Ireland, and he's mentioned that his father was born and raised in London, but nothing else is commonly known (at least not for sure) about his family background. Rumor has it that Ben became a lawyer to fight against and hopefully change the system that visited some injustice upon his family in the past.

\- Dr. Irving Suttler - 36 - FC: Bradley Cooper - MOVED TO PLAYER CHARACTER STATUS

\- Devon Calder, 9th Earl of Lowford - 26 - FC: Charlie Chaplin - Devon would randomly set three greased pigs labeled "1", "2", and "4" loose in the Gilded Hall for kicks. He provides the resistance with much of its money and resources and sometimes acts as a spy. Lord Lowford is rich now, but he was the son of poor entertainers and worked as a comedian when things got weird. An estranged cousin/aging earl ended up on his deathbed without an obvious heir. Devon's deceased father was the black sheep of his noble family before he ran off. His son Devon was now heir to an earldom. Devon's cousin was a good sport and paid for the youth to be groomed for his future title. Now the cousin is dead and Devon is in possession of his title and vast fortune. The young man has all the resources of an earl but not much of the manner. He shows a bizarre mix of aristocratic polish, street smarts, and wicked humor. He's a valued party guest due to how entertaining he is, but high society laughs at him behind his back. Being the goofy one nobody takes seriously has its advantages, though. Such as allowing him to get away with secretly providing rebels with money to help them overthrow the people laughing at him behind his back ;)

*Other Key Resistance Members

\- Avery Curtis - 20 - FC: Liam Hemsworth - Avery has a much less extreme personality than his older brother Tristan does. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Avery is less handsome and less daring and less charismatic than Tristan. He is also less brooding and less self-doubting and less of a perfectionist. He's actually more similar to his helpful, mellow, peacemaking Uncle Bart than he is to his humorous and fiery mother or his dashing and tormented older brother. He does lack Bart's work ethic, though, and he has a bit of a lazy streak. He's more likely to help another person get their work done than to actually finish the tasks he was assigned. Avery is also a bit more apathetic than the rest of his family. He's mainly in the rebellion because all of his family is, though he certainly does agree with the group's general cause. For him, a day without eating something flavored like strawberries is a day wasted. He gets along very well with children and is incredibly protective of them. When it comes to talents, Avery has a natural knack for strategy and problem solving - when he actually cares enough to bother. He enjoys accompanying his uncle Chauncey on his missions as a messenger and kind of idolizes him for his complete freedom, sheer originality, and interesting job. Avery often secretly laments that he's not as distinctive as the rest of his family. He's good friends with Bram Emery.

\- Forrester James - 26 - FC: Aidan Turner - Forrester James is the son of Clement James, a close friend of Bart Spencer's and a secret sympathizer of the resistance until his death from cancer a few years ago. He works as a street magician on Pi and the surrounding platforms and makes the rest of his living by taking various odd jobs as a handyman. The cellar of the small home he inherited from his father contains a key entrance to the resistance's main hideout. Forrester is not the type of person who wants to settle down anywhere. He mainly keeps his house out of loyalty to his father and to the cause his father believed in. If left to his own devices, Forrester would have no home, no steady job, and no roots anywhere and be perfectly happy about it. He respects his obligations and responsibilities but feels heavily burdened by them. Restless, easygoing, adventurous, and good-humored, he's no fierce, fiery revolutionary. He is nonetheless quite clever and more than a little observant. Typically, his respect for his dad and his desire for a better world keep him tied to the rebellion even in his most capricious moments.

\- Thomas "Tommy" Black - 24 - FC: Brendon Urie - Tommy showed up out of nowhere about four years ago, and no one outside of the rebellion's top leadership has any real idea of who and where he was before that. He's an outgoing and goofy but generally vindictive person with an odd sense of humor. Most people in the rebellion know him for his sudden appearance, sheer randomness, interesting outfits, and massive appetite. He's got an eccentric style all his own and displays no apparent desire to conform to anyone else's standards. Tommy is also caught singing every time he thinks no one is listening and is actually a good vocalist. He's good in a fight, too, due to his skill at anticipating opponents' moves and use of dirty, clever tricks. Though his social skills were rusty when the rebellion first took him in, he's grown into quite the conversationalist since then. His strong sense of intuition and ability to predict others' behavior, combined with his combat proficiency, have helped distinguish him as one of the resistance's best young fighters. There's a deep sadness and loss that he hides beneath his enthusiastic and feisty image, though. Wherever he came from, it clearly wasn't pleasant, and he'll do anything to never have to go back.

\- Bramwell "Bram" Emery - 24 - FC: Aaron Taylor Johnson - The younger brother of talented ballerina, spy, and fighter Phoebe Emery, Bram is used to playing second fiddle to his sister. In a somewhat literal sense, too, as he's a small-time violinist who's not one tenth as popular as his sister is. The two of them were rescued from life on the streets (and from the early deaths suffered by their other siblings) through the charity of some middle class relatives who partially wanted to do the right thing and partially just wanted to look like good. Nonetheless, these relatives encouraged the children's passions for music and dance. Phoebe had just the right mix of talent, beauty, and likeability to become famous. Bram, on the other hand, is neither famously skilled nor famously charming. He lacks his sister's poise and tact, enjoys crude humor and clever insults, spends a lot of his time being loud and boisterous and foolishly daring, and picks a lot of fights. He's truly dedicated to his music, though, and he's just as truly dedicated to the rebellion. While he has no specific status or skill set that makes him valuable, Bram is a generally helpful person who's willing to pitch in wherever he's needed. His greatest talent might be his versatility. He's not great at anything but is a fast learner who can do decently at almost everything.

\- Linus Isham - 27 - FC: Richard Madden - Linus works as a painting, etiquette, and penmanship tutor for the children of LITA's high society. His mother, Mrs. Margaret Isham, and his siblings Delbert and Vera are also well-known as teachers of art and etiquette. The rest of his family is not in the resistance, though. He's here partly because he believes in the rebellion's cause, but more than that, he likes the idea of being a brave, dashing, romantic rebel. That's who he's always loved to read about in novels and who he's always hoped to be one day. Most of his work for the resistance involves creating propaganda, gathering intelligence, and transmitting messages between upper class resistance members and the rest of the group. The young man's kind, earnest demeanor and impeccable manners make him rather popular with the ladies. There's no hidden darkness or deep sadness beneath Linus's pleasant exterior. He's a pampered, flirty, vain, good-natured, impractical, idealistic, spoiled-sweet young art teacher. That's it. Linus is typically honest with others and doesn't exaggerate or tell tall tales, but he does try to present things in a positive light. No, he wasn't pickpocketed by a 7-year-old, he provided a poor child with a little money to buy something to eat ;)

\- Xavier Carmichael - 28 - FC: Lee Pace - Xavier is one of Chairman Hazard's household servants and has held that job for the past seven years. He's only been in the rebellion for 2 of those years. Introverted, anti-social, sensitive, and not even sorta kinda book smart, his meticulous cleaning, impeccable cooking, and solid grasp of human nature help him keep his job even though he's not always pleasant to be around. His most notable skill from the resistance's perspective is his uncanny ability to evade notice without actually tying to evade notice. People he's been working with for half a decade still forget his name all the time. The good thing about this is that Xavier can gather a lot of information very subtly without even trying to be subtle. The bad thing is that he's not especially close to anybody and is a hard man to keep track of. A couple of incidents over the past couple of years suggest that someone might be leaking info on the resistance to the government. A lot of people suspect Xavier due to the fact that he's a moody loner who works for one of the most powerful men in the government, keeps most of his activities secret from others, and joined the rebellion right about the time information started being leaked. He protests that he's innocent, though, has kept enough trust to not be kicked out of the resistance. Right now, the only one who knows how loyal he is or isn't is probably himself.


	10. Relationships for Rebellion NPCs / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 1.

So, just as a sort of experiment, I thought I'd make a collective relationship page for all 23 main rebellion NPCs in this group. This will be your go-to spot for requesting any type of relationship with any of the rebellion NPCs. It's not mandatory to have a connection with any of these guys, but I hope that they'll be able to open up some interesting new plot possibilities and character arcs for your OCs!

As these guys are on the same side as the OCs, there are fewer limits on relationships with them than there are on relationships with the villains. FEEL FREE TO CONNECT YOUR OCS TO ANY OF THESE GUYS! You can list any characters in this set as friends, rivals, enemies, acquaintances, mentors, etc. for your OCs. I'd appreciate it if you comment on this set with any major relationships you have planned so I can list all of the people each NPC is tied to. You can also call any unmarried characters in this set as LOVE INTERESTS for your OCs - just PM me or comment on this set to let me know. You may only call one love interest per OC. For now, you cannot make any of these characters die, be seriously injured, or betray the rebellion. In order to keep everything organized and fair, I reserve the right to veto a proposed relationship with a character in this set, though I likely won't have to. Also, you may not do anything to fill in their mysterious pasts without asking me about it first ;)

Below are brief summaries of each character's personality along with his or her relationships with OCs so far. For more info on these characters, check out this set: http://www.polyvore.com/london-in-the-air_facts_meet_resistance/set?id=185948193. And for even more info, feel free to comment or PM me with any questions.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------  
*Leaders  
\- Mr. Bartholomew "Bart" Spencer - 51 - FC: Sean Bean - The widely accepted leader of the resistance, Bart sees himself as more of the spokesmen and mediator for the group. He's considered the glue that holds rebellion's leadership together but as of late is almost always overworked and a bit cranky due to the pressure being heaped upon him.  
BART'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Role model for Victoria Swan (@sunadie-inoino). He likes and gets along with pretty much everyone, so saying that he likes and gets along with Victoria isn't saying much, but he kind of has a soft spot for the girl because she reminds him of his sister Helena when she was a teenager. And with Helena acting as sort of a surrogate mother figure for Victoria, Bart gets to be something of a surrogate uncle when he isn't so busy that he's on the verge of collapse. He also insists that people listen to her suggestions in meetings, as he believes that she has good ideas that could really help promote the resistance.

\- Mrs. Helena Spencer-Curtis - 49 - FC: Courtney Cox - Bart's sister and best friend, Helena is a resourceful and well-educated widowed mother of two sons who's generally considered to be more fiery and intimidating than her older brother. She is a writer, a fighter, and a strategist who may well be the ultimate mama bear.  
HELENA'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Role model for Victoria Swan (@sunadie-inoino). Helena is a mother of two sons, and while she loves her boys, she also kind of enjoys acting as a sort of surrogate family member to Victoria. Helena first met her during some meetings about how to promote and build up the resistance and quickly took a liking to this fiery, creative youngster. Victoria's humor, anger, and resourcefulness somewhat remind Helena of herself when she was younger.

\- Mr. Cedric Thornton - 78 - FC: Ian McKellan - Cedric was one of the architects who designed LITA and knows the city's infrastructure like the back of his hand. He's brilliant but tactless. While he's easily annoyed, he's also a true optimist who believes the rebellion can give the city a chance to correct its past mistakes and create a better future for itself.  
CEDRIC'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
*Is looked up to by Elizabeth Maximoff (@multifandomgal). She's a promising young gadgeteer and inventor, as well as one of the few youngsters who rarely annoys him, so Cedric is usually willing to give her engineering advice and answer some of her questions about his work with minimal snark. That is seriously nice mentoring according to Cedric's standards ;)

\- Dr. Vernon Massey - 64 - FC: Charles Dance - Dr. Massey is a true renaissance man who excels at most everything and gets bored quickly. He views life like a chess game and does whatever he finds interesting, and the idea of overthrowing the government sounds fun. He's a key strategist and is also the propaganda director/public relations expert.  
VERNON'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Often works with Victoria Swan (@sunadie-inoino) on creating resistance propaganda and designing the group's image. Dr. Massey isn't usually one to enjoy working with younger rebellion members (he sometimes refers to it as "babysitting"), but Victoria has the creativity and art skills to put a lot of his plans and ideas into action, and he respects that. Between his status and strategic prowess and her imagination and artistic prowess, the two make an unexpectedly good team when it comes to creating positive publicity and winning new members for the resistance.  
~ Respected and looked up to by Dr. Jhandir (@sakuuya). And for his part, Massey respects Dr. Jhandir back. Massey doesn't look up to anyone (such is his ego), but he doesn't look much down on Jhandir, which is really saying something for him. This might be because, while Massey "won" his first conversation with Jhandir, the man actually scored a few points against Massey first. That almost never happens. Moreover, he views Jhandir as one of the very few pragmatic and ruthless people in an organization full of fluffy happy martyrs. He considers Dr. Jhandir to be the best source the resistance has on how the government scientists think and what they're working towards. Jhandir might not exactly be good for publicity or propaganda, but Massey acknowledges him as a very smart man who will not be hampered by silly things like propriety and sentiment and thus trusts Jhandir to do most anything not related to propaganda very well.

\- Mrs. Daphne Massey - 57 - FC: Michelle Pfeiffer - Mrs. Massey is the spy master of the resistance and, in some sense, the conscience of her husband Vernon. She's the one who got them both involved in the resistance in the first place because she is a genuinely compassionate but restless person who needed something worthwhile to fight for.  
DAPHNE'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Mentor for Rebecca Tyler (@lunaofthemiste). She deeply respects Rebecca's bravery for joining the resistance under the circumstances that she did, and she believes that Rebecca has the spirit and the skillset to be a fantastic spy.  
~ Doesn't dislike Lydia Stanley (@from-the-garden), exactly, but doesn't think she's particularly well suited to being a spy. Of course, this might be because Mrs. Massey sometimes plays favorites - it's less that she doesn't like Lydia and more that she thinks Phoebe and Rebecca are the best spies for pretty much every job. She's perfectly polite towards Lydia, of course, and understands that Lydia's in the perfect position to gather intelligence whether she has the constitution for it or not. She sees the girl as immature and idealistic but generally nice and probably in desperate need of some attention considering her family background. But she thinks that Lydia would be much better suited to working with the writers and propaganda artists under Mr. Ridley or her husband, and she can't totally hide her slight disapproval from Lydia.  
~ Is a bit suspicious of Dr. Jhandir (@sakuuya), and while she didn't suggest that his flat be used as a rebellion safe house SOLELY so there'd be something he's tied down to and some way to keep an eye on him, that was definitely part of it. This rather complicates things as her husband Vernon trusts Jhandir more than he trusts a lot of the shiny sweet idealists in the resistance. Daphne had, in fact, caught strong word of some of Dr. Jhandir's exploits when he worked for the government and therefore did not give him the clean slate that many rebellion members did. Of course, she just means to keep Jhandir under enough surveillance to make sure he doesn't turn traitor or do anything utterly inhumane. She isn't trying to monitor his every move, she doesn't hate him, and she genuinely did find the establishment of his duplex as a safe house to be strategically advantageous for many reasons. She does suspect that Jhandir thinks she's keeping him under a microscope and secretly loathes him, but while that's not true, she does nothing to clear up the misunderstanding.  
~ Friendship and mutual respect with Lillian McGee (@shades-of-rainbow). Lillian respects Daphne very much for being the powerful lady spy that she is, and Daphne respects Lillian for mostly the same reason. She sees Lillian as one of the most driven, self-sufficient, and talented agents working under her, though she often worries about Lillian's emotional health. As a result, she's willing to provide support both mission-related and emotional to Lillian. She's genuinely rooting for the young woman to distinguish herself and to find some sort of peace, whether Lillian finds that in forgiveness, bloody revenge, or something else.

\- Mrs. Eugenie Howard-Dutch - 59 - FC: Meryl Streep - The angry widow of a councilman who advocated for societal reform, Eugenie did not take her husband's murder by Chairman Hazard's assassins lightly. She left high society after breaking into Hazard's office when he was out and shooting an "X" of bullet holes into his coat. Her early efforts to organize a revolt grew into the foundation of the resistance.  
EUGENIE'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Both respected and feared by Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie). She doesn't know him very well, especially since he always seems so cautious around her, but she actually quite alright with him from what she's seen of him. He's a strong, hardworking man who's on her side - she doesn't get particularly murderous towards people solidly on her own side, even when she's absolutely furious, which is about 90% of all the time. Though she'd never go and reassure him that she doesn't kill people who aren't traitors, because much of her reputation is built on being scary ;)  
~Is borderline hero worshipped by Lydia Stanley (@from-the-garden), who views her almost as a sort of superhero. Mrs. Dutch, for her part, in spite of her constant rage, actually has a soft spot for Lydia. They're not super close, but Mrs. Dutch has faith in the girl and would vouch for Lydia if there was some dispute surrounding her. Yes, Lydia might live with her head stuck in the clouds, but that's probably because there's nothing much good for her on the ground, considering her family and how out of place she must feel. Though she wouldn't openly admit it, Mrs. Dutch was not all that different from Lydia when she was a young upper-class woman, and she's well aware that sweet idealists often aren't being wimps so much as saving their strength for the moment it's needed most.  
~ Mutual respect with Lillian McGee (@shades-of-rainbow). Eugenie's first response to hearing about Lillian's situation was something along the lines of, "I'm getting that girl the best firearm currently available on the world market for her next birthday." While Eugenie was something more like Lydia Stanley when she was a young woman, she became much more like Lillian immediately following her husband's assassination. Eugenie was a bit older than Lillian was when she lost her husband, though, and she has a lot of sympathy and respect for Lillian due to all that she's had to endure while still so young. And Eugenie knows that, while some of the old emotional wounds will eventually close up and while Lillian might eventually cool off a bit, suffering like that changes a person forever. They don't have a lot of chances to work together, but Eugenie tries to send small kindnesses Lillian's way when she can.

\- Professor Edgar Gilbert - 38 - FC: Martin Freeman -  
Edgar is a history professor who uses his knowledge of the past to get a better grasp on what's happening in the present and what might happen in the future. He's often seen as a voice of reason and moderation and is the most open-minded and easily approachable member of the rebellion's leadership.  
EDGAR'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Mentor and friend of Serafina Strauss (@euphoria-301). Professor Gilbert was the person who first brought Serafina into the rebellion and quickly took the young woman under his wing. They frequently have long philosophical talks about life and history and various aspects of the liberal arts. Edgar often worries about Serafina's safety, not because she can't take care of herself, but because he's starting to see Serafina almost as a daughter to him. After the arrest and likely death of his good friend Harry (Serafina's former tutor), Edgar doesn't want to lose any more of the other people he cares about. He's supportive nonetheless and has a lot of faith in and respect for his young mentee.

*Specialists  
\- Mr. Roger Ridley - 38 - FC: Basil Rathbone - Mr. Ridley is the editor of the resistance's main underground paper and acts as an investigator as needed. He's a demanding workaholic who's swift to reward a job well done and always there to get his staff and friends out of trouble. He joined the resistance after making some traumatic discovery he never discusses.  
ROGER'S RELATIONSHIPS:

\- Mr. Chauncey Spencer - 38 - FC: Orlando Bloom - Bart's baby brother, Chauncey's a flighty, eccentric wanderer with commitment issues. The resistance is the second thing (after his family) he's dedicated himself to. He's an efficient messenger who excels at getting info from one place to another safely and may well be smarter and more observant than he seems.  
CHAUNCEY'S RELATIONSHIPS:

\- Ms. Georgina "Gina" Gunn - 30 - FC: Eva Green - Gina is a mad scientist with specialties in chemistry and mechanical engineering. She's in charge of creating and maintaining the rebellion's experimental weapons. Ms. Gunn is organized, well-meaning, and cooperative but hates criticism. She knows about 10,000 distinct ways to make any given thing explode.  
GINA'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Mistrusted by Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie), and not without reason. After all, she's slightly bonkers and spends most of her time making things that blow up other things and threatening fiery death upon those who don't give her enough credit. And Gina's not particularly fond of anyone who doesn't love the gadgets she designs. For the most part, these two stay out of each other's ways - Gina sticks to her machines and bizarre explosives, and Andrew sticks to his fists and guns.  
~ Close friend and confidante of Serafina Strauss (@euphoria-301). Serafina admires and appreciates Gina's work and asks her tons of questions about it, and Gina pretty much automatically likes anyone who's a fan of her work. Moreover, Serafina is very intelligent, creative, and observant, all traits Gina values in a friend and can relate to herself. They have awesome conversations about a variety of topics, as Gina's expertise in the sciences and Serafina's expertise in the humanities complement each other well. They have very different perspectives on things and learn a lot from discussing things with each others. Serafina kindly hides many of Gina's prototypes and work-in-progress amongst the various knickknacks of her shop, and Gina often designs custom weaponry for Serafina in return.

\- Mr. Tristan Curtis - 25 - FC: Chris Hemsworth - The elder son of Helena Spencer-Curtis, Tristan is the golden poster boy of the resistance and a promising young fighter. He's handsome, daring, athletic, noble-minded, and mature beyond his years. He's also constantly plagued by self-doubt, perfectionism, and feelings of inadequacy, though, and he's still reeling from the death of his best friend Oscar.  
TRISTAN'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Close Friends and Potential Future Love Interests with Rebecca Tyler (@lunaofthemiste)  
~ Occassional sparring partner of Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie). Andrew thinks he's a pretty good kid and hopes that Tristan will let his friend Oscar's death motivate and toughen him rather than destroy him completely. Tristan enjoys fighting practice with Andrew and generally likes him and admires his fist fighting skills, though he doesn't know Andrew very well. Still, they get along, and if they ever end up in the same fight, Tristan will have Andrew's back.  
~ Good friend of Zarina Knight (@bex-baxter), as they're both often put on the same or similar missions for the rebellion. They sometimes practice fighting together and generally get along due to their similar but not too similar personalities.

\- Ms. Natalie "Nat" Catchpole - 28 - FC: Anna Kendrick - Nat is an orphan who's worked in the low town factories since she was 10. She can pick a pocket and win a brawl, but strangely her dad also taught her how to read, write, speak, and act like someone of a higher class. Her optimism, eloquence, and Joan-of-Arc-ish image suit her to being the leader of the group of young laborers within the rebellion.  
NAT'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Good friends with Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie). Andrew likes her tough nature and sense of humor, and Nat likes pretty much the same things about him. They sometimes share a friendly pint and enjoy talking to each other.  
~ Friend of Serafina Strauss (@euphoria-301). Serafina is often assigned to provide tactical support for her, so they work together quite often. They're both strong, grounded, resilient fighters, and they train together a lot. Nat generally requests to have Serafina as backup for any assignments she's given.

\- Ms. Phoebe Emery - 27 - FC: Audrey Hepburn - Ms. Emery is a poised, elegant, and rather famous ballet dancer who acts as Mrs. Massey's apprentice and thus is a top spy for the resistance. Phoebe is quietly but fiercely opinionated and is always there with a helping hand for her fellow spies. She's good at combat, too, as she's a smart speedster who uses her small size and great dexterity to her advantage.  
PHOEBE'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~Friend, colleague, and mentor to Lydia Stanley (@from-the-garden). Phoebe is the one Lydia goes to for help and advice with intelligence missions, as she's a lot warmer towards Lydia than Mrs. Massey is. Lydia has long been a fan of Phoebe's ballet dancing, and Phoebe has long noticed that Lydia seemed a lot more compassionate and sensitive and creative than most of her family, so she wasn't wholly shocked when Thomas introduced Lydia to the resistance. Phoebe is supportive towards Lydia, and though she can get impatient with Lydia's inexperience at times, she'll always have faith in the younger girl and have her back. Moreover, if Lydia would like some fighting lessons, Phoebe would happily oblige.  
~ Friend of Serafina Strauss (@euphoria-301). Serafina is often assigned to provide tactical support for her, so they work together quite often. The two of them are similar enough that they very much relate to each other but aren't so similar that they're constantly in competition with each other. They cooperate well and enjoy discussing art and the humanities when not on a mission. Moreover, I think they also teach each other some of what they know about fighting - Phoebe helps Serafina practice unarmed combat, while Serafina is starting to teach Phoebe archery and basic fencing. (Is this okay, @euphoria-301?)

\- Ms. Arianna Barclay - 81 - FC: Judi Dench - Arianna was a secretary for the team that built LITA before working as a secretary for the city government. After a few years, she quit out of disgust. She provided the resistance with government info and now acts as the resistance's secretary and librarian. Playing grandma to everyone is her favorite pastime.  
ARIANNA'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Is a friend and surrogate grandmother for Lydia Stanley (@from-the-garden). The resistance does actually have something of a library in the main hideout on Pi. It includes banned books, political tracts, and a supply of novels donated by various members. Lydia is there quite often, and Arianna enjoys recommending books to her and having long discussions with the young lady about literature and writing and even some philosophical topics. Arianna is everyone's grandma, but Lydia is kind of like that one slightly more favored grandchild who always gets the last cookie and the prettiest handmade scarf. She sometimes gives Lydia books from her own considerable personal collection just because she's so pleased with how much Lydia appreciates them.

\- Benjamin "Ben" Easton - 58 - FC: Liam Neeson - Ben is a talented lawyer who knows ALL the loopholes and can find ways around many major laws. He acts as the rebellion's legal expert and presents himself as a stoic professional, though many have overheard him crying behind closed doors. A desire for legal reform is his main motivation for being in the resistance.  
BEN'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~Ben and Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie) kind of avoid each other, though they don't exactly dislike each other. Andrew tried to teach Ben some dirty fighting tricks and things went kind of wrong, leaving Ben with a black eye. Ben doesn't really blame Andrew, but he hates showing weakness, and he's incredibly embarrassed and uncomfortable being around the guy who managed to almost knock him out without even trying.

\- Dr. Irving Suttler - 36 - FC: Bradley Cooper - MOVED TO PLAYER CHARACTER STATUS

\- Devon Calder, 9th Earl of Lowford - 26 - FC: Charlie Chaplin - Devon was a poor comedian until a family secret and sheer luck put the young man in line to inherit an earldom and a huge fortune. Though now an earl, he hasn't lost the disdain for rich pigs and the sharp sense of humor he relied on in his comic routines. He provides the resistance with money and resources and occasional information.  
DEVON'S RELATIONSHIPS:

*Other Key Members  
\- Avery Curtis - 20 - FC: Liam Hemsworth - Avery is Tristan's baby brother. He's humble and mellow like his Uncle Bart and brave and free-spirited like his Uncle Chauncey. He idolizes both. There's a lazy streak in Avery, though, and he's more attentive to others' business than his own. He's Chauncey's assistant messenger and often wishes he were as interesting as the rest of his family.  
AVERY'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Close Friends/Honorary Siblings with Zarina Knight (@bex-baxter). His peaceful, mellow, relaxed nature and her fiery, aggressive personality help to balance each other out. Moreover, Avery often feels left behind by his older brother Tristan, and Zarina is similar to his usually busy older brother in many ways. These two always have each other's backs and do a decent job of keeping some of each other's flaws in check.  
~ Has a teasing love-hate relationship with Idris Lee (@dauntlessbadgirl) and considers her a close friend. One the one hand, he's a lazy, free-spirited peacemaker while she's a determined prankster who enjoys fighting. On the other hand, their differences balance out pretty well, and they are both spirited, fun-loving people who often feel underappreciated by others. They're the best of frenemies, but if one was ever in danger, the other would come to their rescue without hesitation.

\- Forrester James - 26 - FC: Aidan Turner - Forrester is the son of a deceased resistance sympathizer, and he joined the resistance to honor his dad. He's a street magician and handyman who guards an entrance to the resistance's hideout on Pi. He always honors his obligations but feels stifled by responsibility. His greatest assets are his sharp eyes and his talent for slight-of-hand.  
FORRESTER'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Friend and Possible Love Interest of Idris Li (@dauntlessbadgirl)

\- Thomas "Tommy" Black - 24 - FC: Brendon Urie - Tommy is an outgoing, goofy, odd, sarcastic, wistful, sad, and rather vindictive young fighter of mysterious origins. He just sort of showed up four years ago. He's good at singing and great in hand-to-hand combat, and he has a knack for anticipating the actions and intentions of others.  
TOMMY'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~Best Friends/Bromance for the Ages: Matt Valentine (@klaus-seance-hargreeves)  
~Friend and training partner of Idris Li (@dauntlessbadgirl). The two of them often practice hand-to-hand combat together and have been known to join forces in viciously pranking their foes ;)

\- Bramwell "Bram" Emery - 24 - FC: Aaron Taylor Johnson - Bram is Phoebe's violinist younger brother who's used to being the annoying, unremarkable one. He lacks her poise and likes picking fights, being a rowdy goofball, and taking dares. Bram is completely dedicated to his music, though, as well as to the resistance. He's also a helpful person and a fast learner who pitches in wherever he's needed.  
BRAM'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Friend/Mutual Quiet Flirtation/Eventual Romantic Relationship?: Louisa Montague (@cosette-pontmercy1)  
~ Good Friends: Elizabeth Maximoff (@multifandomgal), Zarina Knight (@bex-baxter)

\- Linus Isham - 27 - FC: Richard Madden - Linus, like the rest of his family, tutors wealthy brats in art and manners. Kind, impractical, vain, flirty, and honest, he has no dark past or deep motives. He's in the resistance because he wants to be like the rebel heroes in novels he's read. His main jobs are to create resistance propaganda and to gather info.  
LINUS'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~ Is suspected of all manner of treacherous and unsavory dealings by Dr. Jhandir (@sakuuya), who is inherently hyper-suspicious of born charmers like Linus. Unlike Phillip (@tokyo-mocha), who actually has something to hide, Linus really is just that vain and sweet and naïve. But Jhandir doesn't buy that at all and has gone so far as to drag Zarina (@bex-baxter) in to spy on the poor kid. Linus, for his part, finds Dr. Jhandir deeply creepy. The good doctor is the closest thing he's ever met to a sinister mad scientist from a horror story, and moreover, it's very apparent to Linus that Dr. J kind of hates him for some reason. He is terrified of the doctor even looking at him the wrong way and is incredibly intimidated by the man.

\- Xavier Carmichael - 28 - FC: Lee Pace - Xavier is a servant in Chairman Hazard's household who acts as a spy for the resistance. He's good at subtly gathering info because he may just be the least conspicuous man in the world. Many people suspect he's a traitor, but that might just be because he's an unfriendly person that a lot of people don't like. His innocence or guilt remains unconfirmed.  
XAVIER'S RELATIONSHIPS:  
~Acquaintances and later friends with Serafina Strauss (@euphoria-301). She's initially suspicious of him, as are most people, due to the people he's associated with. She later comes to appreciate him if only for the fact that he's a familiar face due to all the time her adoptive family spent at the Hazards' home. Xavier is not an especially friendly or open person, but he's actually always had a certain amount of sympathy for Serafina dating back to when she often visited the Hazards with her adoptive family. She's observant and reserved and perceptive, much like he is, and she actually bothered to remember his name and face. He also respects her strength and intelligence. Xavier is not quick to trust anyone, and he's mostly willing to provide Serafina with fairly broad comfort and advice and to chat with her only about fairly generic and trivial subjects. He doesn't trust her with many of his own troubles even though he's willing to patiently listen to her troubles and keep them secret. For Xavier, being willing to offer comfort to or to casually chat with someone AT ALL is a sign of great friendship.

 


	11. Symbols of the Rebellion / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 1.

Thanks to @.from-the-garden for asking the question that spawned this set! This info set is all about the symbols, motifs, passwords, etc. used by the LITA resistance to identify each other and to transmit specific messages. I plan to cover what the common rebellion symbols and codes are, how they're used, and what they mean. This is a work-in-progress set, and I will probably continue to add info to it for the next few days.   
\------------------------------------------------------  
\- COMMON VISUAL SYMBOLS:

* Acorns and Dogwood Blossoms - One acorn combined with two branches of dogwood blossoms is the main symbol of the resistance. This motif can be displayed on a pocket watch, handkerchief, hairpiece, buckle, fabric pattern, etc.. The acorn and two dogwood branches can be in various configurations, but one branch must touch the acorn, and the branches must touch each other.

Having such a flexible symbol helps maintain secrecy. There is no easily recognizable "default" symbol for outsiders to look for because this symbol's components mean the same thing in a variety of different arrangements, but the requirements for what makes the symbol are still simple enough to spot if you're looking for them. Additionally, floral patterns are common in fashion. Acorns are sometimes used in clothing but not often, and the same applies to dogwood flowers. Neither symbol looks out of place in an outfit component, and wearing floral patterns won't arouse suspicion. Yet, the odds of anyone wearing something with both acorns and dogwood blossoms on it without knowing what it meant are low, and even then, the chances of the acorns and blossoms accidentally being arranged properly are close to zero.

Why are acorns and dogwood blossoms important to the resistance? Well, the acorn was the resistance's first symbol, and it represents strength, endurance, and new beginnings. Also, the oak tree into which the acorn grows is a symbol of England. Acorns with two small notches carved into opposite sides of the nut are given/sent to resistance members to indicate that important information is one the way.

The dogwood blossom, on the other hand, is a symbol that in this context pretty much means "down with the government of London-in-the-Air". Why? Because for the past few decades, a dogwood blossom carved on a LITA resident's gravestone has meant that he or she was either a member of the city government or a close relative of a member. Dogwood blossoms mark city government graves. The resistance uses the blossoms to represent the overthrowing (or at least the drastic reform) of the city government.

* Blue and Yellow Roses - Blue and yellow roses do not necessarily mark a resistance member if they show up in someone's outfit, even if these two odd colors of roses appear together. However, if someone's wearing the acorns and dogwood blossoms symbol (or possibly a group of three acorns) AND a yellow rose somewhere in their outfit, it means that he or she a resistance sympathizer whom some member of the rebellion trusted enough to tell about the yellow roses thing. Yellow roses generally signify friendship, hence the reason behind their meaning within the rebellion. Sometimes actual rebellion members operating within high society wear the yellow rose, too, but it's primarily a sympathizer thing.

Blue roses symbolize rarity, defiance of convention, and the impossible made possible. They are used within the resistance as an honor and award for impeccable service to the group's cause. If something (a handkerchief, purse, cravat, necklace, pocket watch, etc.) with a blue rose on it is given to a resistance member by a resistance member, it means that they displayed incredible ingenuity, bravery, brilliance, compassion, daring, skill, etc. Some people within the rebellion have been gifted with several things marked with blue roses because they have done several incredible things worthy of blue roses.

* Owl - Someone within the rebellion sporting an owl on their clothing or on an accessory is involved with the military branch of the resistance in a major way. They may be an actual fighter, or they might be a doctor, inventor, smuggler, spy, etc. working with the resistance's fighters. In Greek mythology, the owl is associated with Athena, goddess of wisdom and military strategy, so that provided some precedent for the owl's symbolic meaning within the resistance. Plus, there's the bonus fact that owls are more often associated with academics than with fighters. It makes the symbol a little counterintuitive and thus less likely for an outsider to guess the meaning of.

\- CODES AND SECRET COMMUNICATION:

* As already mentioned, acorns are often used to help send secret messages to resistance members. Acorns with two small notches carved into opposite sides of the nut are sometimes passed on along with messages delivered in person. An acorn-shaped wax seal on a letter, an enclosed item bearing the image of an acorn, or a small doodle of an acorn are all more common when the letter has been mailed to its recipient.   
~ If a message marked by the acorn is a friendly letter supposedly from an acquaintance, it's a summons to a meeting, and the meeting time and place is coded somewhere within the letter.   
~ If the acorn is accompanied by a short letter with only a couple of lines inquiring about your health and asking you to please write back to the old friend who sent it to you this time, it's a warning that you're probably either in danger or in big trouble and should immediately get into contact with another resistance member to seek clarification/help/shelter.   
~ If the acorn is accompanied by a blank sheet of paper, you've been completely compromised or else kicked out of the resistance, and you are to remain on your own for the safety of everyone else.   
~ Sometimes a person who's gotten the blank sheet of paper later receives the note indicating that they're in danger and should meet up with another resistance member if the situation clears up a little. And a person kicked out of the resistance but later re-accepted into it will receive an acorn in some form accompanied by a pressed yellow rose to represent that the resistance extends friendship to that person again.

* Dogwood blossoms are considered threats within the resistance. Receiving pressed dogwood blossoms from someone else within the resistance means that you're a known target of the government and can expect assassins to come for you any day now. As the rebellion actually kicks into full swing, dogwood blossoms with singed petals will begin to be used as a symbol of the resistance's imminent revenge. It will mostly be used to frighten/intimidate people who are on the list of enemies the rebellion is going after.

* The following are some code phrases and such that resistance members sometimes use to identify, communicate with, or warn each other in public.  
~ The resistance likes to be cautious at this point, so the ways its members identify each other tend to be very subtle, and there's more than one password or special conversation or such that can make one resistance member known to another. Feel free to make up some things that rebellion members do to identify each other.   
~ Here's the most generally accepted way of finding out whether you're talking to a resistance member.  
Resistance Member (RM) #1 says to the potential fellow resistance member, "You know, I think we might have met before. Have you ever attended one of Dr. Oak's lectures on comparative progressive botany?" If the person being asked is indeed a resistance member (referred to now as RM #2), they will respond with "(Number) of them, in fact - I wish I could have come to more. Yes, I do think I've seen you there. His theories about the cultivation of flowers in London-in-the-Air are promising, don't you think?" At this point, RM #1 can be almost certain that they're talking to a colleague and replies, "They could be. I have faith in them, at least." If RM #2 then asks, "Tell me, do you have further interest in growing flowers in this city?", it confirms that RM #2 is a fellow resistance member willing and able to communicate with RM #1. If RM #2 says instead, "I could talk about this for three days straight, but I'm afraid I don't have the time right now", it confirms that RM #2 is a fellow resistance member but also means that RM #2 doesn't think this is a safe place to chat. As a note, the number of times RM #2 says he or she has attended the lectures is actually the number of years they've been in the resistance plus 2, times two, minus 2. Most resistance members know what number this is just in case they have to identify themselves to someone. If RM #2 has been in the resistance for a less than a year, they say they've been to 2 lectures. My example OC Cordelia would say that she's been to 8 lectures.   
~ RM #1: "You know, I saw a shooting star/comet last night at about (time between 8 PM and 7:59 AM), oh, around (number) nights ago. Did you see it?"  
RM #2: "Yes/no."  
This exchange is a way of spreading the word about an upcoming resistance meeting. If RM #1 says they saw a shooting star, the meeting will be at the main resistance hideout on Pi. If RM # 1 says they saw a comet, they'll be meeting elsewhere, and they'll give RM #2 the location later once they get some privacy. Whatever time RM #1 says they saw the shooting star or comet at is exactly 12 hours before the time the meeting is to be held. If RM#1 adds the word "sharp" after they say the time, though, it means the meeting will be at the actual time they said. And the number of nights ago RM #1 says they saw the shooting star or comet is the number of days from now the meeting will be. For example, if RM #1 says they saw a shooting star at midnight around 4 nights ago, it means there will be a meeting in the hideout within Pi platform at noon 4 days from now. If RM #1 says they saw a comet at 9 PM SHARP around 2 nights ago, it means there will be a meeting in a location other than the Pi hideout at 9 PM 2 days from now, and that RM #1 will tell RM #2 where the meeting will be as soon as it is safely possible. If RM #2 replies to RM #1's question with "Yes," it means that they plan to be at the meeting. If RM #2 answers "No," it means they either can't make it or don't plan on coming.  
~ The phrase "rarer than a field of blue roses on Chi" means "there are capable reinforcements who secretly have your back right now."  
~ A "true and golden friend" is a resistance sympathizer.  
~ "Remember that fallen tree branch I found in the street?" means "Be on your guard, there are authorities/government members/government sympathizers watching."  
~ "Street owls" are resistance fighters.  
~ "Steam owl" can refer to anyone on the crew of a resistance airship.  
~ "I heard an owl last night. I believe that means bad luck, you know" means "Get ready to fight because the spies have discovered that we're in danger."

* The resistance is fond of codes and riddles and uses various ones in the letters and messages it sends to its members. Members meant to understand a message will usually be told the trick behind a riddle or code in advance, and they might be given a basic key for deciphering a code if it's too complex to easily memorize.


	12. Through the Eyes of the Enemy / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 3.

Lenora Lynch missed the target again.

"Chin up," Dave Heaton said, smirking, as he aimed his weapon at his own target. "I'm pretty sure you did hit a passing bird with that one."

Nori elbowed him hard in the side and shot him a look that might well kill a man all by itself if that man hadn't been training alongside her for years. "Shut it, Heaton."

"Just accentuating the positive." Dave raised his hands defensively in front of himself. "No harm was intended."

The targets Nori and Dave were practicing with now were just wood. If they'd been people, Dave wouldn't have had the spare wit and energy to be joking around now. Perhaps Nori wished that Dave didn't have the spare wit and energy to joke around now.

"Maybe not," Nori said, responding to Dave's defense after a small delay, "but harm was done."

Silence fell thick over the two apprentice assassins with that comment. They resumed target practice quickly, but neither spoke.

Dave decided firmly not to write this exchange down for later. He didn't want to remember it. The morning review of his journal had reminded him that Nori had been rather sour ever since Pi. Now any attempts he made at their usual competitive banter were shut down with a bitter quip and a scowl.

It wasn't that he couldn't understand. In fact, he did understand, at least a bit. She had every right to feel betrayed. So did her father, and so did Dave, to some extent, though he wasn't bothering with it. Indignation or anger or especially retaliation would be more of a hassle than it was worth. After a decade in this business, you learn that being the fall guy comes with the territory. There were quite a few gears meshing together and turning each other under the surface of the city's politics, like the spinning web of gears hiding under his coat sleeve right now. The gears shifted the ground under you all the time. And if your job openly involved the shedding of blood, anything could become your fault at a moment's notice.

Sometimes he forgot how much younger Nori was than him. She'd been raised to be an assassin, and she knew exactly why and exactly how she needed to pursue her destined calling. Often she did better than him with guns, with knives, with poison. But she was still hardly older than 20. She wasn't used to seeing her world broken and patched, broken and patched, broken and patched - not the way Ambrose and Dave were.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this from anyone right now," Dave said after a long while lost in thought, his words meant for Nori but his eyes still fixed on the wooden target, "but they won't care in a month."

Nori didn't respond. Dave fired again and was an inch off from getting a bull's eye. Nori fired again and solidly hit the target.

"It's only going to get better from here, Nori. I give it a month. A month's the most I can see. Could be less."

Nori scoffed. "Stop trying to be my father. You're no better at it than he is." She fired, and this time, her bullet hit her target in the dead center.

"Your father's just trying to give you some room to sort things through, considering your behavior at the Hazards' party, and-"

She cut Dave off before he could get any further. "The Hazards should be happy I didn't behave much worse at their party." She paused for effect, shook her head in feigned shame, and continued in a sugary, sarcastic voice, "Ooooooh, pardon me. How very improper, after all their /kindness/ towards us." Nori spit out the word "kindness" like it was distilled lemon juice.

"It's how they keep their faces clean."

"Really? Because I usually just use soap, not public humiliation of others for DOING THEIR JOBS," Nori quipped, "And soap has always worked just fine for me."

"The Chairman is a bit too dirty for just soap to work," Dave responded, setting his gun down on the rickety wooden table set up beside him. "That's not exactly a secret."

It was common knowledge that most people loyal to Hazard who knew him well weren't loyal due to his unbreakably strong moral fiber. Dave, for example, was loyal to Ambrose Lynch. Ambrose, for example, was loyal to Nori, and his job, and the basic idea that everything was going to explode unless someone started doing something drastic.

"A near miss was what they asked for," Nori muttered, setting down her own weapon on the table set up alongside her. "A near miss is what I gave them. I have no great love for Vernon Massey, but d.ammit if it didn't listen to them. I know what I was ordered to do. I didn't miss because of my 'feminine reservation' or any of their bloody excuses. I know what they told us to do."

"So do we," Dave stated. He looked his fellow apprentice in the eye and forced a half-smile. "I know we couldn't defend you like we wanted to when it mattered. I know that. And your father is just as sorry as I am."

Nori let her hand linger over her gun as she raised an eyebrow at Dave. "He told you to talk to me, didn't he?"

Dave shook his head. "Actually, I told him to let me try talking to you."

"Oh." Nori turned back to the table of firearms beside her and began to scan over its contents. The training she and Dave received was intensive and grueling. Anyone who didn't think murder was an art form, or at least a highly rigorous sport, had never seen them train. "How like you, Heaton."

More silence.

"If it helps at all," Dave offered, "anyone who's ever shot a gun knows it took more skill and effort to miss like you did than it would have taken to kill him. It doesn't matter what Hazard told Steers. Everyone who knows you and knows guns at least has suspicions, I guarantee it."

"It doesn't help," Nori said bluntly. She grabbed a rifle, sighed, and looked over her shoulder at Dave. "But, if it helps at all, anyone who's ever seen a brother at all knows you're better at trying to be a brother than most brothers." She smirked half-heartedly before looking back to the weapons table.

Dave nodded slightly to himself as she turned away. Yes, that did help. He was going to write this down after all. It would be nice to have some lasting proof that Nori didn't hate him.

Bad as things were now, when the storm blew over in a month or so, they'd all have their targets again, Nori included. Things would be better. He picked up an old rifle of his own and began to load it. Their next mission would be a real one, one they weren't ordered to fail. Their next mission would be informed by what happened in reaction to their last one. Their next mission would let Nori shoot someone square between the eyes from a nigh-impossible distance.

He aimed the gun, shot it, hit the target straight through the middle. Things would get better. He reloaded, fired, hit the hole from his last bullet. Things would get better. He paused, looked over to watch Nori, grinned as her bullet hit the dead center, too.

Things WOULD get better.


	13. Hidden Depths: Charlotte, Lady Sterling / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 3.

After waiting a few days to complete judging for Round 3 so people could finish up stories, i plan to judge the contest tomorrow night! Round 4 will be up shortly after that. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns in the meantime :)

\-----

This week will be dedicated to starting Round 4 and filling in all the info and story sets I've recently posted. For now, though, I thought I'd start publishing some little teaser sets for the lesser used background characters in LITA.

Just because they're rather unassuming or have been quiet so far doesn't mean they have no skeletons in their closets, cards up their sleeves, or bearing on the plot ;) Keep an eye out for more of these quick "Hidden Depths" sets about various rebellion and government NPCs in the future. Many will include some puzzles and secrets and such that could give you some hints about where the plot is going!

\-----

This teaser set is for Charlotte, Lady Sterling, formerly Ms. Charlotte Annabelle Hazard (FC: Anna Friel). She's the sister of Chairman Hazard and the wife of a baronet. Composed, stoic, elegant, and proper, she's a very loving and attentive mother for an upper class woman of the era and a perfectly agreeable wife. She's not quite as chatty as many of her peers but possesses a sharp wit and a strong sense of propriety. Lady Sterling will not tolerate any bull droppings, thank you very much, and is utterly annoyed by swearing of any kind ever. She loves pastel colors, lace, old furniture, books, music, floral everything, philosophical conversations, antiques, the theater, attending public lectures on a variety of topics, and of course her children.

But remember, very little in LITA these days can be taken at face value. It often pays to look a little deeper...

\-----

Feel free to PM me with any questions about the content of this or any other "Hidden Depths" set should a set and/or NPC piqué your curiosity and/or get you thinking!


	14. Hidden Depths: The Name of This Group Is a Round 5 Spoiler / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 4.

Sooooo...

With Round 5 just around the corner, all manner of secrets are about to be spilled. New NPCs will enter the picture, old NPCs will take on new roles and significance, and lots of truths and motives kept in the shadows are about to emerge. Get excited, guys!!!

As a note, I just extended Round 4 for the last time. GET THOSE DELIGHTFUL ENTRIES IN, MY LOVELIES! It's okay if you can't get your story in right away - feel free to submit your set before your story. Everyone will get 3-4 days after the official end of the contest to get stories up. All the entries so far have been fantastic, and I can't wait to see more of your fabulous sets and stories :)

\-----

This, my friends, is a Round 5 teaser set. Its full significance will be revealed early in Round 5, and at that time, this set will be updated to become an info set. For now, this is a sneak peak of a couple of the new Round 5 OCs, a hint as to some of the connecting threads beneath the surface of LITA's plot... and an affirmation of @trulydear's beautiful Phinn's continued presence in the group haha

Also, there is a very good reason why my example OC Cordelia's name is in quotation marks. If you're especially curious about this, I suggest that you reread @trulydear's Round 2 set for Phinn Atwood. All manner of obscure interconnections are going to start coming to light in Round 5, and this set hints at one of the messy webs of lies and secrets that will begin to unravel ;)

\-----

CHARACTERS PICTURED:

\- Phineas "Phinn" Atwood (FC: Bryce Pinkham) - The Genius - @trulydear's OC   
\- Camilla "Millie" Atwood (FC: Kaya Scodelario) - The Firebrand - @trulydear's Side OC  
\- "Cordelia French" (FC: Anne Hathaway) - The Pirate - My (@decoder13's) Example OC  
\- Blarion Abinall (FC: Armie Hammer) - The Dreamer - Celine's brother, a young rabble-rouser from Manhattan-in-the-Air with a boundless imagination who has not yet used the word "impossible" once in his life - NPC  
\- Celine Abinall (FC: Adelaide Kane) - The Artist - Blarion's sister, a gentile young lady from Manhattan-in-the-Air who paints elegant images of people dying in exceedingly gruesome ways - NPC


	15. Ladies in Airships Blowing Things Up / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 4.

We're still a few days away from moving into Round 5. Until then, keep the round 4 sets coming, my lovelies - they're looking amazing! For now, I had this sitting in my drafts and felt that this was a good time to publish it. So here, have some cute LITA friendship stuff!

\-----

Cordelia French (FC: Anne Hathaway) is a generally mentorly person, so it doesn't really surprise anyone when she takes yet another young resistance member under her wing. Almost half of her crew at any given time consists of younger airmen and airwomen she's taken it upon herself to teach. She'd likely be a professor of some sort if she lived in a different world.

Yet, Millie Atwood (FC: Kaya Scodelario) (@trulydear) is less like Cordelia's student and more like her family member. People have mistaken them for sisters before. Both are dark-haired, sharp-featured, sharp-minded, sharp-tongued firebrands who feel at home in the air. Also they both tend to favor Shakespeare, improvised brilliance, and burning things over many of life's other pleasures. Cordelia has a few protégés, but she and Millie are especially close.

Some people speculate that this is because Cordelia sees her younger self in Millie. The truth is that Cordelia sees the person she wished her younger self had been in Millie. And Phinn (@trulydear) actually trusts Cordelia to watch over Millie sometimes. That in itself says a lot.

Plus, it's wonderfully symmetrical that Andrew (@delusionsbybonnie) mentors Phinn in fighting while Cordelia mentors Millie, isn't it? Millie could easily beat Phinn up without exerting much effort, while Phinn is... well, trying his best, at least. But that has more to do with the students than with their teachers haha ;)


	16. Meet the Cats / @decoder13 and @sakuuya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13) and collage'd by Polyvore user @sakuuya, aka [sakuuya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakuuya). It was posted during Round 5.

This is actually an official-ish LITA mod set, believe it or not! All the information in this description comes from @decoder13 rather than me. I tried to imitate her style to make it look more official, but I think it’s pretty clear why she uses this style and I don’t. Anyway, this set exists because sometimes digging up secrets nets you useful information and sometimes it gives you something that’s not terribly useful (or even really a secret) but is too fun not to share with everybody.

So, on that second note, here’s a list of Dave Heaton’s cats!

TOBY - Tabby that likes to nip people, but only because he is a jumpy little youngster who just wants to play.

MCLICKENS (long story behind that one) - Sleek black adult stray that LOVES people and loves being treated like a baby. Preferably like a human baby.

SIR - Sphynx who more or less rules Dave's apartment and tends to change his mind a lot, but can be won over by sufficient tribute from a worthy human.

CLOUD - Aging, mostly blind Turkish Angora that just wants pets, cuddles, and sleep and is TERRIFIED of playful baby Toby.

SHERLOCK- Fluffy brown stray that is curious about EVERYTHING and from which nothing can be successfully hidden for long.

PICKLES - Fat gray and white short-haired stray that just wants more food and less responsibility (not that he has any responsibility, but he would prefer to have even less than none haha).

QUEENIE- Young blotchy gray stray that likes ripping pillows open and sleeping in them; also likes staring into humans' souls, or so it sometimes looks.

SANDWICH ("Sandy" for short) - Tan, brown, white, and gray stray with splotchy coloration and only half a tail; likes jumping all over everything and will sample a bit of any liquid left out by dipping a paw into the glass and then licking the paw off


	17. Hidden Depths: Percy Albright / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted during Round 5.

So, quite a while ago, I said there'd be multiple of these little teaser sets about various NPCs. With Round 5 going on and the whole focus being secrets, I thought now would be a good time to publish a few more. Yes, there are hints to a couple of the secrets in the secret guessing set hidden in here if you look under the surface for them ;)

\-----

Percy Albright (FC: Jude Law) is supposedly a mere contractor and businessman but is actually the ultimate boss of most of LITA's organized crime. If it is a thing in LITA that is at least mostly illegal, Albright has a hand in it. He often sees to it that the dirty work Mayor Steers can't do himself gets done and quietly keeps the city government informed of every shred of relevant information he comes by. In return, his criminal empire is left alone by the authorities.

Yet, Percy is also willing to get information and supplies to the Resistance for a price and (from what anyone can tell) hasn’t ratted on them yet. Unless he was the one responsible for the government finding the main Resistance base on Pi? He shouldn't have known the base's location, but that doesn't mean he didn't. Dr. Massey, in particular, has recently expressed suspicions that Albright was connected with that disaster in some way or another.

Ever since the attack, Percy has been sporting Resistance symbols worked into his clothes and accessories and actively attempting to interact with members of the "former" Resistance. But he's also stopped doing actual business with the group and spends more and more time in meetings with Mayor Steers. No one knows what he's done, what he's doing, or what's going on in his head right now. Even some of his subordinates are starting to question his stability and sense.

Mr. Albright's history, motives, and true loyalties are, at this point, unknown. But there might be something in his past driving him forward, and some close ties of his that could be very much worth investigating...


	18. Story Wrap-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted after the end of the game.

Soooooo, for the past few weeks, I've been stalling on a LITA wrap-up set. I genuinely apologize for that. My major setback has been that LITA was built in such a way that I didn't 100% know its ending. I knew ways it COULD end, and I had a couple favorites, but I was leaving a lot of plot details up to OCs' decisions.

How do you write a satisfying plot summary for a group with 10 different possible endings? That is exactly what I've been struggling with. HOWEVER, I think I finally have a solution.

Below, rather than individual contest summaries, is a broad overview of how LITA most likely would have ended. This is written as a summary blurb with an expanding list of other points of interest as I glean them from my notes. In several places, I have noted where a plot element would have been formatted as a decision or otherwise have been optional.

NOTE: The actual summary materials will start in Section 3.

NOTE #2: This will all make most sense when taken in combination with the answers to Round 5's Secret Guessing Game (http://www.polyvore.com/battle_for_lita_round_secret-guessing/set?id=214814458)!

\-----

PLOT FLEXIBILITY AND FUTURE WRITING

Due to the flexible nature of LITA, I will NOT treat any plot directions that could have possibly been chosen as definitive. They are merely POSSIBLITIES.

For future LITA stories and RPs, this means a few things:

1\. So that everyone has a single default universe to write in together, writers can treat what I listed as the most likely outcome of LITA as the canon ending. AUs are absolutely allowed, though, and will not be considered any lesser than the supposed canon spin on the group's final events :)

2\. Writers can agree upon the details of the resolution (such as where their own and other OCs end up after the main plot ends) as they please. This might make RP and future stories a bit easier! I'll make another set soon to be a hub for this kind of plotting and link it here once it exists.

3\. If there's something that I note COULD have been changed with Miracle Points that you had a 75% chance of higher probability of wanting to change using your MPs, let me know! I'll change that plot point in the main write-up.

4\. If you have any ideas about other events you probably would have instigated had the group continued, let me know so I can add them to the main resolution of the group!!!

\-----

SELECTIVE DETAIL INCLUSION

Not every plot thread and NPC is included here. Some never got much attention, whereas others were mostly focused on by members who left the group at some point. I had more subplots planned than I knew what to do with and didn't want to stall this any longer just to round up more notes on tiny backstory points.

If there is some specific NPC, sub-plot, or detail that you really, really want to know about that was left out, though, please let me know! I will address it in this set ASAP.

\-----

MAIN PLOT SUMMARY:

\- Shortly after the arrival of reinforcements from MITA and the Low Town and the news of the Archivist breaking for everyone, LITA's government surprises the resistance by...ripping itself in half and killing off many of its own members!!! Ambrose Lynch, his daughter Nori, and his apprentice Dave Heaton have not been working for the government in general for a long time. They work specifically for Chairman Hazard, who has blackmail about Ambrose's past dirty dealings and early involvement with some rebellious elements back in Ireland during his youth. And yes, @delusionsbybonnie, that was planned all along and was part of the reason I was initially so gush-y about Andrew appearing as a protagonist in LITA's plot :) It soothed my conscience lol.

\- The assassins surprise-storm a city council meeting in the Gilded Hall that Chairman Hazard and most of his closest allies, including Captain Scarborough, were "regretfully unable" to attend and Walt was not present at due to sheer, genuine luck...secretly engineered by Dr. Massey, who is the mole and who knew that this was going to happen. Chairman Hazard does not know that Massey is responsible for Walt's absence. A few council members die from poisoned drinks before everyone realizes what's going on, but then Professor Burns catches on, raises a panic, and deliberately smashes his drink against the floor. That's when the Plan B ambush happens.

\- Simon Page is killed by Dave Heaton, formerly a friend of his. Page actually puts up a good fight and manages to make Dave feel terrible about himself in the process but eventually ends up getting poison forced down his throat. Dave is let at the brink of an emotional breakdown and has a flashback about seeing a woman poisoned and tortured in front of him, realizing that he had similar feelings about her death even though he supposedly hadn't known her. He realizes that this woman was probably someone important from his past, a friend even dearer than Simon had been.

\- Mayor Steers quickly realizes what's happening and, rather than letting one of his son Walt's best friends (yes, Dave has a lot of friends for a cat-loving amnesiac cyborg assassin - don't judge :P) kill him, locks eyes with Dave. He thinks Dave is the reason Walt isn't here and thanks him. Then Steers drinks the poisoned drink intended for him and dies. He refuses to die at another's hand after being stabbed in the back and believes that this is the most honorable thing he can do and the best way he can be remembered by his son. SURPRISE: Steers wasn't the main problem and actually was in talks with Cedric Thornton about trying to wrestle some power back from Hazard and enact a couple of reforms in LITA.

\- Ambrose kills Professor Burns, who was the first person to catch on to what was going on due to a remark that his "mysterious" boss in the government cyborg program didn't realize he'd overheard recently. Burns smilingly taunts Ambrose with the knowledge that he left some critical government information in "wonderfully bad hands" as he dies but gives no names. FYI, though, he was referring to Warren Herald, whom he purposely trusted with information far above his clearance and even gave permission to share off top-secret government projects with "qualified persons". Fortunately for Burns, Warren did indeed share this info with a lovely young lady (@from-the-garden). Best of all, she was in the resistance ;)

\- Nori is tasked with "cleaning up" remaining council members opposed to Chairman Hazard and getting the few allies of Hazard who are in the room out of there. She may or may not kill the male relatives of some OCs at this point depending on whether they side with Steers over Hazard. Nori later also kills resistance members Cedric Thornton and Arianna Barclay away from any rebel base - not because they were rebels, but because of their lingering semi-positive connections to Mayor Steers.

\- Long story short, Hazard, the Lynches, and Dave cover up the massacre with a huge fire in the Gilded Hall that ends up destroying most of the above-ground complex. The huge number of casualties is attributed to the fire.

\- Alistair Hazard takes over as "provisional" mayor of LITA and immediately blames remaining resistance members for the deaths of his "friends." This allows him to put the city into a state of public emergency and to call in the military. Scarborough is spontaneously and quite dubiously promoted to general and tasked with leading the forceful stamping out of these "violent rebels." It turns out that Scarborough was initially a friend of Bart Spencer's and an early rebellion member, but he turned traitor early on because he believes that absolute control and order is the only way to keep LITA in the air, both figuratively and literally.

\- Bart Spencer likely passes away around this time, though Miracle Points COULD have saved him.

\- A scarred Dave Heaton, who was already playing both sides anyway and is now beginning to recover a few of his memories, goes rogue and defects to the rebellion, where he helps brace people to repel the impending violence to be instigated by Hazard. Dave drags a torn and abandoned-feeling Nori Lynch along with him. He fights alongside rebellion members and gives some key information about how to use electricity as a super-effective weapon against cyborgs, knowing full well that this knowledge could be used to kill him. Fortunately for Dave, newspaperman Roger Ridley newspaperman quickly vouches for Dave.  
  
\- REVELATION TIME: Roger Ridley once worked with Dave's now-dead older sister Abby before said sister was killed for discovering what had become of her younger brother (originally named Hugh Shipley). Abby is the woman Dave had a flashback about after he killed Page. The Shipley parents and their daughter Abby had been involved in the LITA rebellion early on, leading to all of their eventual demises. Dave was originally been raised to be a fighter for the RESISTANCE and was nearly killed along with his parents while still a teen. But he was saved from the brink of death by a rather sympathetic Professor Burns and a bout of random good-ish will from Dr. Kern, instead being repurposed into what he is today.

\- Roger knows that Dave has another sibling besides Abby, believes that he's alive, and has some idea of where to contact him. He vows to do that.

\- BUT Roger doesn't have to contact the sibling - that brother is Percy, lord of the LITA underworld and the Archivist. He finds Dave himself and eventually allies with the resistance in its darkest days, though he claims that he's liable to turn on them again as soon as order is restored if he doesn't like what he sees.

\- Percy secretly plots with Nori to off Dr. Massey, who he believes to be as bad as Chairman Hazard. And he's not necessarily wrong. Massey has plans to bring down Hazard before taking over LITA for himself, and he was partially behind the attack on Pi and possibly Bart's death. Professor Gilbert, meanwhile, recovers enough to share the information that Dr. Massey seemed to be signaling the assassins the day of the attack on Pi and that it's likely not a coincidence that he didn't get a scratch on him.

\- And THEN Daphne Massey reveals that...SHE'S KNOWN ABOUT ALL OF THIS FOR A LONG TIME BUT WAS STAYING WITH HIM ON ORDERS OF BART SPENCER, WHO MASSEY (THOUGHT) HE WAS BLACKMAILING INTO TOTAL COMPLIANCE WITH MASSEY'S OWN IDEAS FOR THE REBELLION. Daphne was biding her time and even pretending to be vaguely in on her husband's games. She was silent for years. Then the attack on Pi occurred several days before all of her intelligence indicated it might happen. Then she declared a silent war, though she's been biding her time and actually thought it to the resistance's advantage to let her husband split the government in half but then warns everyone before the fallout can hit the resistance.

\- With the help of Percy, Nat Catchpole discovers some old journals left by her parents that Dr. Massey had specifically confiscated from her family years ago. It turns out that her mother was a disowned Hazard with plenty of dirt on her former family and that Massey was exploiting both that information and Nat's connection to the Hazards for eventual propaganda and shock value. Nat takes her own family's store of knowledge back and is probably the one who shares Alistair Hazard's weakness to bees with everyone, among other dirt and the ultimate revelation that Charlotte, Lady Sterling is probably the bigger problem.

\- Whether or not Massey is captured and/or killed now or later based on all of this evidence would have been up to group members, but he certainly doesn't end up in charge of the rebellion.

\- Mrs. Massey has the jump on the government and helps get the resistance ready to defend their turf if necessary but to strike first wherever they can. Many resistance members likely embark on projects of their own - some aimed at taking down the soon-to-be-operational zombie cyborg army before it can be unleashed, others aimed at taking down certain other NPCs based on new information...

\- If group members let it get that far, Scarborough's forces do eventually muster to attack the rebellion's remaining bases, and ALL HECK BREAKS LOOSE. Rebel bases come under direct attack while OCs are present. If/how they survive and what they focus on during these attacks is up to you.

\- Daphne Massey, Chauncey Spencer, Eugenie Howard-Dutch, Tristan Curtis, Helena Spencer-Curtis, Roger Ridley, Phoebe Emery, and Nat Catchpole band together to lead the resistance, along with any and all other OCs, base leaders and not, who are up to the task.

\- Ultimately, one wing of the rebellion finds the hub of the government's zombie cyborg program and completely destroys, likely killing everyone involved, though some of them could possibly have been spared. Dave Heaton and Lord Beck reveal that a second secret facility under the Gilded Hall houses lots of cyborgs and secret projects and weapons and such. It also turns out that being exposed to scenes and images that remind the zombies of their human lives can snap them out of their mind control, much as Dave was snapped out of his induced amnesia. It is possible that most zombie cyborgs made from resistance members could be jolted semi-back to their senses and help the OCs before dying again when the control switch (of sorts) for the whole "army" is destroyed.

\- Another group breaks everyone out of the Low Town and mobilizes the factory workers with the help of Nat Catchpole and the Low Town and MITA NPCs.

\- Another group does peaceful damage control, keeping extra riots from breaking out and putting a temporary semi-government in place and saving as many innocent bystanders from harm as possible.  
  
\- Another group addresses the surviving big bads: "Mayor" Hazard, "General" Scarborough, and Charlotte, Lady Sterling. It turns out that the Hazard siblings, Alistair and Charlotte, were behind the framing of Mayor Steers for a lot of things that were much worse than he actually did. Alistair is power hungry and petty - think Iago from Othello, basically. He will utterly destroy ALL the things after being slightly wronged once. Charlotte was in charge of the mad science, though. She liked the idea of having an unbeatable, recyclable army, and she believed that LITA was so much its own place that it out to be its own mini-country, rather than part of England. She had some rather deranged utopian/dystopian ideas of how to do that. She, her brother, and Scarborough are ultimately thwarted.

\- I admittedly do not know for sure who was going to be the new leadership of LITA once the rebellion won, the smoke cleared, and the folks in the Low Town were freed. Nor did I know who would be on the new city council. I was going to have group members vote on these things and write about how their own OCs each picked up the pieces ;)

  
\-----

OTHER PLOT INFO:

\- Walt Steers goes total rogue after his father's death and takes an active public stance against Chairman Hazard. He's not for the rebellion, but he is against the Hazards. He temporarily teams up with the resistance until he discovers they took in Dave, whom he refuses to forgive for "killing" his father. He does not believe that Mayor Steers died by his own hand and considers his father's actions cowardly rather than brave.

\- Walt's cyborg secret is eventually publicly revealed by Charlotte Hazard, humiliating him. He proved to be a much more manipulative person than most would expect and does the seeds of some in-fighting among the Hazards' supporters after being captured by them. This opens a window for the rebellion to attack Hazards' secret offices beneath the Gilded Hall. After the rebellion is over and half the city is left hating him while the other half pities him, Walt leaves LITA for a time (if he even survived). He definitely will return as a rogue character in any future direct sequels to LITA.

\- Lord Beck discovers that Dr. Massey is his real father and that most of the people he messed with or hurt in the past are all still alive and present in the rebellion. He kind of goes crazy and probably ends up being killed by Dr. J in supposed "self-defense," though possibly he could have been saved through begging, bargaining, pleading, and Miracle Points ;)

\- Fortuna Doland was working with Dave Heaton to take down the government cyborg program for the inside. Fortuna ultimately turns her husband, who was scheming to expand the whole evil zombie cyborg thing to an industrial level, over to the rebellion to be dealt with. She's been a secret friend of Daphne Massey's for years but was also a friend of Dave's mother.

\- Sir Clinton Sterling is killed by his wife Charlotte after he discovers the extent of her involvement with insane mad science and threatens to take their children away from her. The fate of the children (Paxton and Flora) after likely being orphaned would have been left up to group members, but I was hoping that they might be either taken in by Mrs. Massey or sent away from LITA to live with their Aunt Geneva, Alistair Hazard's wife. They, like Walt, will likely show up in any future direct LITA sequels!!!

\- If both survived, Nori Lynch and Elmira Hazard would have run away together at the end of the group, as they are in fact in love and Elmira now wants nothing to do with her family's actions. They part ways after about a year. Elmira ends up becoming a translator, while Nori gets involved in the criminal underground elsewhere in England and rising to prominence there. Later, the two reunite in their 30s and strike a relationship back up while being world class crime lords. Nori maintains a lifelong friendship with Dave and gets criminal underworld-leading tips from Percy from time to time ;)   
  
\- Xavier the butler was pretty much an undercover a steampunk James Bond sent by the Prime Minister to investigate the wider threat that certain elements in LITA might have been posing to England as a whole. He is probably shot by either Chairman Hazard or Mrs. Hazard (the latter of whom he was having an affair with) but is brought back as a cyborg zombie by Charlotte. Being James Bond, he's pretty dangerous, but he also hasn't totally lost his memories of who he was. Probably he'd have ended up fighting a group of the resistance's better fighters and mechanics but eventually coming back to his senses. He'd be willing to pull a heroic sacrifice for surviving resistance members at the end.

\- Cordelia French ultimately ends up engaged in combat from the air with government forces from the ground. She also plays a part in evacuating the Low Town. Her ship ends up catching fire, but she manages to control the fire and get the ship back to a dock before it falls from the sky. Of 50-some people aboard, there are only 3 casualties. She still mourns her lost crew members but is also accepted among the major figures of the rebellion (aka the other OCs!!!) and is seen as a hero for what she was able to do. She likely marries Andrew O'Rourke (@delusionsbybonnie) ;)

\-----

DEFINITE CASUALTIES:

\- Mayor Steers  
\- Professor Burns  
\- Simon Page  
\- Cedric Thornton  
\- Arianna Barclay  
\- Sir Clinton Sterling

\-----

LIKELY CASUALITIES THAT STILL COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED:

\- Bart Spencer (Dies without ever coming out of his coma)  
\- Alistair Hazard (Either killed by resistance members - possibly with bees! - or imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)  
\- Charlotte, Lady Sterling (Either killed by resistance members after what amounts to a boss fight with her cyborg zombies or imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)  
\- Oswald Scarborough (Either killed by resistance members for leading the army trying to kill them all or imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)  
\- Eugenie Howard-Dutch (Death by heroic sacrifice while a rebel base is under attack, and she takes out several trained, much younger soldiers in one go in the process)  
\- Forrester James (Killed after successfully misdirecting government soldiers with illusions and slight-of-hand)  
\- Georgina Gunn (Dies in a fabulous explosion that takes down a crud ton of government forces and possibly cyborg zombies at the same time)  
\- Devon Calder (Assassinated by Ambrose Lynch in the Round 6 massacre)  
\- Lord Beck (Goes mad from the revelation that Dr. Massey is his biological father and likely get killed by Dr. J unless someone somehow bribes @sakuuya to do otherwise lol)  
\- Dr. Massey (Likely exiled or executed for his plotting against his own supposed friends who trusted him with their lives)  
\- Xavier Carmichael (Shot for spying on the Hazards)  
\- Dr. Kern (Either killed during the resistance raid on the cyborg labs or imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)  
\- Warren Herald (Either killed during the resistance raid on the cyborg labs or imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)  
\- G. Rufus Doland (Killed either by resistance members or his own wife, or possibly he's just imprisoned/executed in the aftermath of the group)

\-----

LIABLE TO APPEAR IN SEQUELS:

\- All MITA and Low Town characters  
\- Walt Steers  
\- Flora and Paxton Sterling  
\- Dave Heaton  
\- Percy Albright  
\- Elmira Hazard  
\- Nori Lynch  
\- Daphne Massey  
\- Helena Spencer-Curtis  
\- Roger Ridley  
\- Tristan and Avery Curtis  
\- Chauncey Spencer  
\- Phoebe and Bram Emery  
\- Linus Isham  
\- Tommy Black


	19. Bye Bye Beck / @decoder13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user (and LITA creator) @decoder13, aka [Decoder13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decoder13). It was posted after the end of the game.

This set has been almost done for so, so long. Today I finally found the perfect snarky speech bubble to complete it ;)

This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek set for (the glorious end of) Faye Abinall aka Cordelia French and Thaddeus Beck aka Lord Gothic D. McByron (the D stands for doom, death, Dracula, etc., etc.)'s engagement about 10 years before the plot of Battle for LITA began.

\-----

HOW THIS MESS ENDED

Lord Thaddeus Beck is a complex person who definitely has some noble sentiments and drives buried in the core of his soul. On the surface of that soul, though, is a lot of d.ickery. He doesn't do well with realizing he's been wrong and makes quite a scene out of admitting to any mistake he's made. And he's rather more likely to blame his screw-ups and sins on those around him than on himself. That's part of how he managed to flourish working in LITA's government labs for so many years.

However, when Faye politely pointed out to Beck that repeatedly secretly cheating on her with his super-secret college boyfriend (Hi, Dr. Suttler! @closetcellist) was a d.ick move, Beck was not very happy. He kind of just...monologued while weeping. A lot. And most of what he had to say was about how Faye was cruel for asking him to just love her, though he also asked Faye to just love him because clearly her soul was not as vast and deep as a man's and could not accommodate passion as his could. Also, he was being so gracious overlooking her "mannish" interests in flight and academics. How could she hate him for that? When Faye brought up the subject of her trust being broken, well, that was too much. Beck fainted.

One week later, when it was time for their wedding, Faye just...didn't show up. She hopped an airship for New York (not dressed like a man or a beggar or both, surprisingly - she was actually wearing a gorgeous and rather flamboyant gown that Thaddeus had unconditionally vetoed as her wedding dress). Of course she left a long letter addressing Beck as "Thou unhappy fellow, more baffled than Orsino in hunting the hart" along with lots of other elaborate Shakespearean digs against his inconstancy and melodrama. She also kindly left Beck about 20 bottles of his preferred spirits to drown his woes in.

\-----

SEMI-DIGRESSION ABOUT WHISKEY ON FIRE

Thaddeus and Faye had both been involved with the temperance movement, though Beck still felt that a sip of fine wine here and there or a hint of something stronger in his tea wasn't really violating the spirit of the movement. His efforts were tainted, but he cried about it, so that made it forgivable. Faye was a lot better about actually not drinking alcohol. Eventually, Beck told her to give a demonstration on the "dangers of alcohol" for him because he'd feel guilty about giving such a speech. He was sure she'd understand. Besides, she was so much purer than him, and only a woman could truly understand the worst dangers of a drink that naturally suited man's constitution somewhat better.

Faye gave the speech. It just...wasn't quite what was expected from her. She took her subject matter very literally and practiced in secret quite some time in order to demonstrate the most dangerous thing she could think to do with alcohol: set it on fire. To be exact, she taught herself how to pour flaming whiskey between several different glasses based on 1) directions in a book and 2) lots of trial and error.

Faye's demonstration, while impressive on a skill-based level, was considered a mockery of the temperance movement (which it somewhat was). She and Beck were both booted from their little society. Of course Beck knew that this was all Faye's fault and that her old wild streak would never quite be worked out of her, but he loved her anyway and forgave her. Obviously, this was near the end of their relationship.

Notably, Beck never did mention all of that wine Faye got him as a "going away" present... ;)

\-----

NOTE FOR @DELUSIONSBYBONNIE

It is my headcanon that eventually Cordelia shows off the whole "throwing around flaming whiskey" trick for Andrew (@delusionsbybonnie). Andrew may react in any way you wish, Bonnie. I was thinking that this might be post LITA, though, and his reaction might be finally proposing lol.


	20. NPC Graveyard / @sakuuya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Polyvore user @sakuuya, aka [sakuuya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakuuya). It was posted during NALITA and therefore should technically be in its own story, but it's literally the only NALITA supplemental info set, so I'm including it here. It was unfinished when Polyvore went down.

Hi, LITA folks! It was my fond hope that I could get through this group without making any supplementary info sets, but alas, best-laid plans and all that. Look, LITA has a LOT of group NPCs, and I’ve been culling them pretty ruthlessly in NALITA, so I made this set as a central guide to who died, when, and how. If your OC kills anyone, I’ll note as much in that NPC’s description, and if you write about your OC witnessing anyone’s death, regardless of whether they were responsible, I’ll include a link to your relevant set. Please let me know if I missed anything!

This list will be updated between rounds with the NPCs moved to the dead list after the previous round, as well as the NPCs who will definitely die in the next round. The different frame colors represent different rounds, just as visual way to keep things organized.

GRAVEYARD LAST UPDATED: 4/2/2018 (After round 9)

\-----

DIED IN ROUND 3:   
\- Lord Thaddeus Beck (fc Benedict Cumberbatch, age 37): Stabbed by Dr. Jhandir (@sakuuya). See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=226280395.

DIED IN ROUND 5:   
\- Lord Mayor Everett Norval Jassop Steers (fc Vincent Price, age 47): Drank poison rather than be killed by Dave Heaton at Gilded Hall.  
\- Professor Clement Wickham Burns (fc Leonardo DiCaprio, age 40): Killed by Ambrose Lynch at Gilded Hall.  
\- Devon Calder, 9th Earl of Lowford (fc Charlie Chaplin, age 26): Killed by Ambrose Lynch at Gilded Hall.   
\- Simon Ashwood Page (fc Elijah Wood, age 33): Killed by Dave Heaton at Gilded Hall.  
\- Cedric Thornton (fc Ian McKellen, age 78): Killed by Nori Lynch before she defected.  
\- Adrianna Barclay (fc Judi Dench, age 81): Killed by Nori Lynch before she defected.  
\- Xavier Carmichael (fc Lee Page, age 28): Killed by Alastair Hazard for being a spy for the Crown.  
\- Bart Spencer (fc Sean Bean, age 51): Died of natural causes. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=229986929.

DIED IN ROUND 7:   
\- Sir Clinton Ballantine Archer Sterling, Baronet (fc Luke Evans, age 38): Killed by his wife Charlotte after discovering her mad-science experiments.  
\- Nori Lynch (fc Lorde, age 21): Killed by Kara Feurherz (@fashionqueen76) during an attempt on Dr. Massey’s life. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=234006266   
\- Prof. Edgar Gilbert (fc Martin Freeman, age 38): Killed by Dr. Massey for spreading information about Massey’s involvement with the attack on the Pi base in LITA R2.  
\- Dr. Vernon Massey (fc Charles Dance, age 64): Executed by Chauncey Spencer for his crimes against the rebellion.

DIED IN ROUND 8:  
\- Forrester James (fc Aidan Turner, age 26): Killed while misdirecting soldiers away from the tau-epsilon base.  
\- Dr. Thornton Kern (fc Tom Hiddleston, age 39): Killed by Kara (@fashionqueen76) during the raid on the government labs. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=235608155   
\- Warren Herald (fc Daniel Radcliffe, age 25): Died in the destruction of the government labs. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=235608155

DIED IN ROUND 9:   
\- Ambrose Lynch (fc Gerard Butler, age 51): Accidentally killed by Andrew (@delusionsbybonnie) after breaking into Andrew’s flat. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236373715   
\- Gina Gunn (fc Eva Green, age 30): Blew herself up, along with the infirmary on Pi when it was compromised and invaded. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236493444 and https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236499761  
\- Helena Spencer-Curtis (fc Courtney Cox, age 49): Shot during the attack on the Epsilon-Iota base. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236273913   
\- G. Rufus Doland (fc Johnny Depp, age 50): Shot by Liz (@multifandomgal) while being held captive by the rebellion. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236294380   
\- Elmira Hazard (fc Codie Young, age 21): Accidentally shot by Kara (@fashionqueen76) while being used as a human shield. See https://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=236976916


End file.
